An Impossible Quest
by Jayelyyn
Summary: Nico and Percy and sent to Hogwarts on a quest barely two weeks after saving the world from Gaea. Befriending and helping Harry Potter is their their first task. But the second one...much, much harder. (Major spoilers for BoO and OotP!)
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: **All character rights for Harry Potter and Percy Jackson go to J. K. Rowling and Rick Riordan.

Erm, **author's note: **first fanfic. Don't diss the story just because of this. We've all gotta start somewhere, right?

**THIS IS JAYE, RIGHT AFTER POSTING CHAPTER 20. I swear to the gods, the chapters get longer. Seriously. And my writing gets better.**

0o0o0o0o0

^Harry

Harry decided to sit at the lake and catch up on the homework that he'd been fallingn dangerously behind on all week. Ron was still asleep, and Hermione was in the library. The library seemed too quiet and closed in for Harry's mood, because it would just make him feel worse.

"too late, Harry realized that this was a bad idea. He didn't have Hermione to help him, and nothing was there to distract him. Even the birds seemed too quiet and the lake surface too clam. Harry's mind got away from him as he tried to take in words from the Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook Umbridge had assigned them. He had read the same paragraph four times and had only taken in the first sentence.

He gave up. His thoughts were too deep, the pain in his scar too sharp. It was hurting all the time, now that Voldemort had risen.

_Don't think of that, _Harry reminded himself. But it was too late. His mind was reeling with the memories of the previous year. The Triwizard Tournament...dragons, merpeople, boggarts, a sphinx, and a giant spider. The graveyard. Cedric Diggory. The large cauldron. Dust risen from the ground, Pettigrew's hand (he still couldn't get the _sound _of that out of his head), and the piercing of the knife that Pettigrew had used to get Harry's blood. Voldemort rising. Him dueling with Voldemort. His parents. Running back to the Triwizard Cup, taking Cedric's body back to the school with him. Moody—Crouch...

Harry pulled himself out of his painful memories. Moping about the past wouldn't help the prospect of the future in any way. He got up, gathered his things, and headed back to the entrance hall. He found his way to the Gryffindor common room, set his things down on his bed, pulled the curtains shut, and went to find Hermione in the library.

It was too early for very many people to be walking around the castle, but the few people who were awake stared shamelessly at him. Harry turned his head away, tyring to pretend like he hadn't seen. He made his way to the library, and found Hermione sitting with three books proppeed open in front of her, and several rolls of parchment spread across two tables.

"Hello, Harry," she greeted him, as soon as he found her. "You're up early."

"So are you," Harry reminded her. "What are you doing?"

"Homework," she replied simply. "You should get on that, you know. You and Ron can't put it off forever."

Harry decided not to answer.

He sat down next to Hermione and pulled out a random book. It was unlike him, but he started to read. Anything to keep his mind off Voldemort.

"—reckon we need help," a tart voice said, a few minutes later.

"Yes, Miverva, I've already sent a request. At least two peopls should be on their way to the school within...the next four hours," said the calm voice of Albus Dumbledore.

"Two? You think two people will be any help to us?"

"Quite," Dumbeldore said.

Professor McGonagall made an irritated sound, but she didn't argue.

As the footsteps of Dumbledore and McGonagall got closer, Harry and Hermione pretended to be asleep, with their faces in textbooks. Harry heard a small chuckle as the footsteps passed.

Once they were gone, Harry lifted his head and asked, "What was that about?"

Hermione shook her head. "I'm not sure. Do you think they're sending Aurors or something?"

Harry shrugged. "Maybe. But to do what?"

"No idea," Hermione responded.

It didn't seem like a big deal to Harry. In fact, it seemed perfectly normal to call for extra protection at a time like this. He cast the thought aside, and sat alongside Hermione as she finished her homework.

0o0o0o0o0

^Percy

"Seriously?" Percy asked.

Percy was standing on one side of the rec room ping pong table in the Big House with Nico, while Chiron stood on the other side, looking slightly nervous.

"Yes, child. You have one hour to pack and say your good-byes."

"And we're leaving, just like that? No prophecy, no gods, nothing?"

Nico scowled. "He has a point. Why us?"

"Because, a god _was _involved in the planning of this quest. For some reason, she has chosen specifically the two of you."

"But Hazel—or Lou Ellen? Any of the children of Hecate? Wouldn't this quest make more sense for _them_?"

"Do not question the gods," Chiron warned. "If you are the two people they way, you will go. Now, hurry. Go pack whatever you think you'll need. Meet back at the top of Half-Blood Hill in an hour. The children of Hecate will be waiting for you there."


	2. Chapter 2

**DISLCAIMER**: All rights for the HP and PJ characters go to J, K, Rowling and Rick Riordan.

**Author's note**: The chapters will definitely be way longer than the first one :) I guess I just needed to get an introduction done.

^Percy

Percy had no trouble gathering his things—because he wasn't taking much. Chiron had mentioned some sort of uniform (gross). All he really needed was Riptide, but he took a backpack anyway. He took a baggie of ambrosia, and canteen of nectar, and some clothes, just in case: an extra pair of jeans and two orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirts.

He took in his surroundings. He knew he would miss Cabin Three...the smell of the ocean everywhere. When Chiron had explained their mission, he had implied they'd be gone for a while.

He stepped out and headed toward the Athena cabin. He didn't know if Annabeth had somehow gotten wind of this mission yet. He doubted it. Percy knew she would be angry about it—especially when she found out that he was leaving in less than an hour.

He paused outside the door, but he had no need to go in. In an instant, one of Annabeth's siblings had appeared in the doorway. He stared at Percy's face for a second, and then his eyes locked on the backpack slung over his shoulder. He narrowed his eyes, turned, and called, "Annabeth!"

"What?" she called back, seeming slightly annoyed.

The boy turned back to Percy and whispered, "Good luck." Then he called back into the cabin, "It's Percy!"

Annabeth appeared in the doorway as the boy walked back to his bed.

"Hey, Sea—where in Hades are you going?"

Percy cringed. "Erm, Chiron is sending me and Nico—"

"Seriously? _Two weeks_ after defeating Gaea?" she said, outraged.

"Yeah, well—"

"Ugh!" she stormed out of the cabin. Percy followed her silently.

She turned around when she reached the dining pavilion. She stood next to Percy's table, where he usually sat alone at meals, unless his half-brother Tyson were there.

"What are you doing?"

He explained the quest as best he could.

When he finished, Annabeth sighed.

"Well, I guess you have to go. It was assigned by a god? Which one?"

Percy thought. Then he said, "I guess Chiron didn't mention it."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "He definitely did that on purpose."

Percy shrugged.

They stared at each other for a minute. Annabeth's stormy gray eyes were hard. They seemed angry, but Percy could tell that she was afraid. She was really good at hiding it, but he could see through it.

Percy said, "Annabeth, I—"

Her shields broke down. Annabeth walked briskly toward him, and he wrapped her in his arms.

"Percy, I don't like it. We haven't been so far apart since—"

"I know, Annabeth. But I don't have a choice. I'll come back to you, I promise."

"Shut up, Seaweed Brain. You can't afford to make promises like that."

"That's how you know that I mean it."

Annabeth pulled away, shaking her head.

"So, I guess you have to go to Half-Blood Hill. How much time do you have left?"

Percy thought for a second, and then said, "Maybe fifteen minutes."

Annabeth nodded. She took his hand, and they slowly made their way toward the top of Half-Blood Hill. Percy saw Nico talking to Will outside the Apollo cabin. Nico seemed disgruntled, and Will, as Percy and Annabeth walked by, was saying, "...and you still have two weeks left. No shodowtravelling! I swear, I'll make you wear pink for a month if you—"

"Alright!" Nico said. "Alright. I get the message. No shadowtravelling. Anything else?"

Will glared at Nico suspiciously, and then rested his hand on Nico's shoulder. "Stay solid," he advised.

Nico rolled his eyes. "I'll try my best."

Will smiled and kissed Nico on the cheek. Nico blushed furiously, and Will grabbed his wrist and led him to Half-Blood Hill.

Annabeth and Percy kept walking.

Ten minutes later, five minutes until their latest arrival time, they reached the top.

Chiron was waiting with six children from the Hecate cabin.

They stopped, Annabeth pulled Percy in for a kiss.

It lasted forever, but when they finally broke off, she said, "See you, Seaweed Brain."

"Count on it, Wise Girl" I told her.

She turned and walked back down the hill.

Will's arms were crossed. He stared at Chiron, and then turned to Nico. I turned away so that they could talk in private.

When Will had left, Chiron looked up and said, "Percy, Nico, come stand in the middle."

The Hecate kids had formed a circle.

Percy stood awkwardly in the middle of a large circle of girls. Percy had never noticed before, but all the Hecate children were girls. He pushed the thought aside.

All six of the girls joined hands, and closed their eyes.

"You'll be sent to a place called King's Cross Station. Time speeds up around you when you're transported this way, so when you arrive there, it should be the morning of September first," Chiron said.

Percy raised his eyebrows. "Two weeks from now?"

"Roughly," Chiron answered. "I wish you luck."

"Thanks," Percy grumbled.

The Hecate girls' hands started glowing as they all started chanting at once. Then, suddenly, Percy felt a tugging sensation in his gut, and he flew into the air, clutching Nico's wrist.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

^Nico

All Nico could feel was some invisible force choking him, and Percy's hand on his wrist.

It seemed to take forever, but it also seemed to take five seconds. Did that make any sense? No. But it happened anyway.

Suddenly, they both dropped onto hard, stone floor. Nico grunted and fell to his knees. Percy, unfortunately, flew down with his back to the floor. His head hit the floor—hard—and he groaned and passed out cold.

"Great," Nico said. He pulled some ambrosia out of his packpack and force-fed Percy some. Instantly, he groaned and sat up.

"Where—oh. September First?" Percy asked.

Nico shrugged. "Let's make sure."

He helped Percy to his feet, and they both walked up to someone with a uniform on.

"What day is it?" Percy asked him.

He told us the date. Percy gaped at him for a second. Nico was too stunned to talk.

We walked away from the uniformed man.

"_Three weeks?_ Seriously?" Percy said. "Three weeks!"

"How are we supposed to get to this school?" Nico asked.

"Well, we can't shadow travel," Percy said. "Doctor's orders."

Nico grimaced. "He's so..."

"He cares," Percy said. "And I agree. I've seen you try to pick something up in the arena and have it fall through your hands, even recently."

"Why were you—"

"What? Spying on you?" Percy said, unabashed. "Dude, I'm in the arena all the time."

Nico rolled his eyes.

"Sure. Fine. But how—"

Suddenly, a bright, white light engulfed them. Nico was spat onto a bright green lawn, with a lake stretching out in front of him.


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER**: I don't own these characters. Rights to J. K. Rowling and Rick Riordan.

**Author's note**: Thank you for the responses! I really appreciate them—they mean a lot.

^Percy

Percy's spine didn't seem to like being crushed twice in a day. Why did he always land with his black to the floor? He was still blinded by that white light, but he could tell he was lying on a lawn, and could definitely sense the lake stretching out above his head.

He tried to sit up, and groaned. His back ached like crazy.

Nico was looking disgruntled. He shook his head, staring at the floor, trying to reorient himself.

Percy lifted his backpack. Once he'd had some more ambrosia, he felt a lot better. He stood up, looked behind himself, and found a large, dark lake in front of him. It felt eerie. He could sense a lot of things he didn't like swimming around in its depths.

Suddenly, Nico gasped. "Percy, look at this."

Percy turned.

Standing before him was the largest school he'd ever seen. A _castle_? Chiron had said nothing about this. There were countless turrets, and the front had huge marble steps leading up to great, oak doors.

Percy whistled. "Erm, are we in the right place? Because this does _not_ look like a school."

"Let's check."

As they walked up to the castle, Percy couldn't get enough of his surroundings. There was some sort or sports pitch, with three giant hoops on each side of the field. Percy had no idea how anybody could throw that high and actually make it _into_ the hoop. He could see something like a village in the distance.

They got to the huge front doors. Nico and Percy looked at each other.

"Do we knock?" Percy asked.

"No idea," Nico responded.

Percy shrugged. He was just about to knock on the door in front of him when it suddenly swung open. Standing in front of him was a very tall, thin man with a very long, silver beard (it was actually tucked into his belt). He had golden half-moon spectacles on, and behind them were piercing blue eyes. He smiled kindly.

"You must be the help they sent," the man said.

"Maybe," Percy answered.

The man's eyes seemed to tug at Percy's soul. "I am Albus Dumbledore."

Percy nodded. "I'm Percy Jackson."

"Nico di Angelo," Nico said.

Dumbledore smiled. "Yes, yes. Chiron said you two would come."

Nico and Percy grimaced.

"Come," Dumbledore said to them. He turned and made his way into the castle. The two demigods followed nervously.

The inside was breathtaking. Percy decided it couldn't be explained with words. The only word he could come up with was _Wow_.

Annabeth would've loved it. The thought made him sad.

After an eternity of walking, Dumbledore stopped in front of a stone gargoyle, and said, "Cockroach Cluster."

Percy found this odd. What was a _Cockroach Cluster_? It sounded revolting.

Suddenly, the gargoyle jumped aside, and a door opened, revealing a spiral staircase. Dumbledore started climbing, and Percy and Nico followed.

They stepped into an office. There it was again: _Wow_. It wasn't big or small. It was just round, with portraits hanging on the walls and small silver gadgets sitting on shelves.

Dumbledore turned. "I hope you know the purpose of you being here."

Nico nodded. Percy was staring at a portrait. Was it _snoring_?

"Good, good. This definitely isn't normal, but I'm going to give you the Sorting Hat right now. But first, I guess I should explain. There are four Houses, each respecting different qualities in people. They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Every year the Sorting Hat places a new group of students into their House."

"So, are they separated?" Percy asked.

"Yes. There are common rooms in different places of the castle for each House."

"Okay, what are these...qualities that the houses are separated by?" Nico asked.

Dumbledore hesitated. "Gryffindor respects bravery and chivalry. Hufflepuff is about...loyalty. Ravenclaw is about knowledge...wisdom. Slytherins are..._ambitious_."

The way he described Slytherin made Percy positive that it was the last House he wanted to be in.

Dumbledore took a very, very old and tattered hat down from a shelf.

"Percy, you first."

Percy shrugged and took the hat. When he set it on his head, it fell over his eyes. Whoever had owned this hat had a _huge_ head.

Suddenly, a small voice spoke in his ear.

"Ah, Perseus Jackson. Interesting. Loyal to no end...but brave, very brave. Hmm. My, you've been through a lot, haven't you? War, grief...Well, I guess I'll go with—"

Suddenly, the voice became a lot louder. The hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Percy cringed. He looked at Dumbledore. Dumbledore nodded, and Percy took the hat off his head and handed it to Nico.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

^Nico

Watching Percy wear a hat like an idiot, waiting for it to place him in a _House,_ had been funny. Doing it himself was nerve wracking and embarrassing. Discrimination by hat. Joy.

Hearing the voice talk in his head was a shock. He wasn't expecting that.

"Nico di Angelo," said a voice in his ear. He jumped. "I see."

That was it? _I see? _The way he said it—not very reassuring.

"Hmm."

The hat said nothing else in his ear.

Nico looked up, afraid he'd broken it or something. But Dumbledore was just watching him intently, and Percy wasn't paying him very much attention. Those paintings on the walls seemed to have caught his interest.

Nico stood there for over five minutes. The hat said nothing except, "Hmm."

He was getting more and more embarrassed by the second. Maybe the hat had stopped working. Maybe he didn't have _any_ of those qualities that the Houses required.

And then, out of nowhere, the hat opened its brim-mouth-thing and said, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Dumbledore nodded. "Well, then, I guess you'll have to get your robes. I will lead you to the Gryffindor common room, and then I'll have a prefect help you out from there."

The three of them left the office. Nico and Percy walked in silence.

Percy was staring in awe at a lot of things—the portraits, paintings...the staircases, which moved. Nico wasn't doing much better at hiding his shock. Everything here was so blatantly..._magical_.

"Mimbulus Mimbletonia," Dumbledore said to a portrait when they had stopped.

The fat lady in the picture nodded, and the portrait swung open, revealing a hole in the wall that led to a large, circular room, with lots of students buzzing around and flames dancing merrily in a fireplace.

Dumbledore thought for a second, and then called into the portrait hole, "Ronald Weasley!"

The whole common room went quiet. Nico heard a girl's voice say, "Well, go on, Ron!"

A tall, gangly boy with flaming red hair and freckles appeared, looking shocked and slightly frightened. "Professor?"

"Show these two to their dormitories, will you? Percy is in seventh year and Nico is in fifth. American students that couldn't get here on time due to...magical difficulties."

The boy, Ronald, nodded nervously. Dumbledore smiled, and then walked off.

Ronald stared strangely at Percy for a second, and then shook his head.

"Well," said Ronald, "I'm Ron. I guess I'll be...er...showing you to your dorms."

Ron gestured for them to follow. Nico and Percy climbed into the portrait hole, to dozens of staring students.

As Ron led them toward a staircase, he caught the eye of some black-haired boy with green eyes sitting by the fireplace. He raised his eyebrows, and Ron shrugged in return. The girl sitting next to him, with bushy brown hair, smiled.

We started ascending the staircase. We stopped in front of a door, and Ron turned. "Which one of you is Nico?" he asked.

Nico nodded at Ron. "Me."

"Okay, this is where you'll be sleeping. It's my dorm, too."

Ron walked inside, and both Nico and Percy followed. There were six beds in there. Five of them had trunks at the ends of them, and one of them was completely untouched. There were two boys in there already. One of them had sandy hair, and the other was tall and dark-skinned.

"That's your bed," Ron told Nico. "So...yeah."

Nico walked up to it and set his black backpack down.

"Dean, Seamus, this is Nico. He's...erm...an American student? Anyway, he's in fifth year, so..."

Nico waved. Dean and Seamus waved back and said, "Hi."

The sandy-haired one seemed in a bad mood.

_Okay_, Nico thought. _We're here. Now, we just need to figure out which of the million students at this school is Harry Potter. And then we can carry out the rest of the quest. Piece of cake._

_Hah_, the Fates seemed to retort. _You wish._

But then suddenly, the black-haired boy from the fireplace in the common room appeared in the doorway to the dorm. He said, "What's going on?"

Nico looked over at Dean and Seamus. The one Nico guessed was Seamus shot an irritated look at the boy, but didn't say anything. Nico wondered what had happened between them.

"They're American students that couldn't make it on time," Ron told him.

The boy looked at Percy and Nico, waiting. For what, Nico wasn't sure.

Percy smiled at the boy. "I'm Percy Jackson. This is Nico di Angelo."

Black Hair looked strangely at Percy for a second. I guess he saw what Nico had seen—they looked quite alike. Percy was just older, taller, and leaner.

"I'm—I'm Harry," the boy said. "It's nice to meet you."

Nico caught Percy's eye. They both thought the same thing:_ Harry Potter?_

It took less effort than Nico had thought it would to find him—because, apparently, he was staying in the same dormitory.


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER**: All credit for characters go to J. K. Rowling and Rick Riordan.

**Author's note**: I write at the pace of books, rather than short-stories. Sorry if you seem to think it's dragging on. I'm actually rushing myself. Anyway, enjoy!

^Harry

Harry was almost positive that something was up with the two new kids. They had joined school a week late into the semester, and the way they had reacted to Harry's name was weird. They weren't in awe or anything (which Harry was _very_ glad about), but the two of them had exchanged some sort of look. Harry was no good at reading people, so he didn't understand, but it had been significant.

"So, d'you want me to show...erm...Percy to the seventh-year dorm?" Harry asked Ron.

Ron shrugged. "I guess."

Harry turned to Percy and said, "Follow me."

As Harry led Percy to the seventh-year dorm, he vaguely wondered if the twins were in there.

"So, Percy...why are you coming to school a week late?"

Percy thought for a second, as though trying to figure out how much to say. "Magical difficulties?" It sounded like a question.

"You don't sound so sure."

"The...um...headmaster—Dumbledore, I think?—told us not to say any more. So, bear with me."

Harry was slightly confused by this. Why would Dumbledore want them to keep information from everyone?

The thought of Dumbledore made Harry angry. He didn't realize he was scowling until Percy said, "What's wrong?"

Harry cleared his face. "I'm fine."

"It seems like you don't like Dumbledore much," Percy noted.

Well, Percy was definitely better at reading people than Harry was.

"No, nothing like that."

Percy shrugged. "Okay."

At that moment, we reached the dorm. Harry opened the door and stepped inside. The twins were there, along with Lee Jordan.

Percy scanned his surroundings, and then shrugged. He noticed one empty bed on the far right, and said quietly, "Is that one mine?"

"I guess so," Harry told him.

The twins looked up at the sound of their voices. Lee Jordan seemed confused.

"Who're you?" Fred asked.

"Percy," Percy said simply.

"Are you...going to school here?" Lee questioned.

"Erm, yes," said Percy. "I'm from America."

"Noticed," George said, smirking.

Percy snorted and said, "I guess you would."

Fred stood up. "That bed just appeared there about half an hour ago. Didn't know why, so none of us touched it."

"I guess it's for you," George told Percy.

Percy was staring at the twins. "And...you are?"

"Gred and Forge, at your service," the twins said in unison.

"Lee Jordan," Lee said.

"Fred and George?" Percy said to the twins.

Fred laughed. "How—"

"I have some friends back in America, Travis and Connor. You remind me of them."

"Twins?" Lee asked.

"Almost," Percy said.

_Almost?_

Harry shrugged it off. He was pretty sure that Percy was being vague on purpose, but it didn't really matter to him. He watched as Percy set his backpack down on his bed. Harry felt some weird emotion pang inside him—then he realized what it was. Jealousy. Harry had never cared much about his appearance...too skinny, messy hair, and that stupid lightning-shaped scar on his forehead that he had once thought was really cool. Percy was wearing a green shirt, blue jeans, and his black hair was messy, like Harry's. His intense green eyes seemed to hum with power. He was taller than Harry by at least five inches, and he was lean and muscular. He was what Harry wanted to look like. A tall, handsome version of himself.

Harry shook the thought and said, "I...yeah, I'll be leaving. Just follow the staircase down to the fifth-year dorm if you need your friend, Nico. If he's not there, he's probably in the common room. See you, I guess."

Percy nodded. "See you."

Harry went back down to the common room and found Hermione and Ron sitting by the fire again. Harry sat, staring into the flames, until Hermione interrupted, "They seem sort of..._weird_, don't they?"

Harry looked away from the fire. "Definitely. There's something off about those two."

"And Nico," Ron said, grimacing. "That kid...he seemed nice enough, but he's creepy."

"Percy has this..." Harry trailed off, wondering how to explain the weird feeling he got. "He's got this...sort of..._aura_, I guess. It feels...powerful."

Ron nodded. "I felt the same thing."

"But we've only just met them. Let's wait until we know more about them before we judge. I don't really see them as _suspicious_, but something's definitely not right about them," Hermione said.

Harry nodded. "Okay, sure."

As the conversation ended, and everyone fell silent, he couldn't help but think about his encounter with Cho that morning in the owlery. He got this weird feeling in his stomach when he thought about her.

But then his mind traveled to darker places. Dumbledore, Umbridge. Ugh, Umbridge. Harry looked down at his hand and saw the still very raw cut on the back. _I must not tell lies_. Yeah, sure.

_At least we have Quidditch later_, Harry thought. He smiled.

"Hey, Ron, you want to go practice on the pitch?" Harry asked him. "Get some work done before the team meets?"

Ron nodded gratefully. "Sure."

The two of them got up, ignoring the protests from Hermione ("You'll fail all of your O.W.L.s! You know, your homework can't just do itself!"), and took their broomsticks out to play some Quidditch.

**Author's note**: The chapters will start getting longer from now on, because the story is actually starting to unfold. Reviews and suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own the characters and a lot of the plot...those belong to J. K. Rowling and Rick Riordan.

**Author's note:** Thank you for the responses. I try to update chapters every two or three days. If it takes more time than that, I'm either really busy or writing a super long chapter. In advance, if that ever happens: Sorry! I love you all!

^Harry

By the time they got back from Quidditch, both Harry and Ron were not in very good moods. They had been taunted by the Slytherins, and Ron thought he did terribly. Harry didn't really think he had done too bad, considering it was their first practice together.

Harry and Ron walked into the common room with their brooms over their shoulders. The first people Harry saw were the two American students: Percy and Nico. They were sitting in the corner of the room, muttering to each other in whispers. Harry vaguely wondered what they were talking about, but he discarded the thought. _Why was he feeling so nosy all of the sudden?_

They definitely weren't the only ones in the common room. It was still pretty much the afternoon.

"How was practice?" Hermione asked them.

"It was—" Harry began, but Ron cut him off.

"Completely lousy," Ron said in a hollow voice, sinking into a chair beside Hermione.

"Well, it was only your first one," Hermione said consolingly, "it's bound to take time to—"

"Who said it was me who made it lousy?" Ron snapped.

"No one," Hermione said, looking surprised, "I thought—"

"You thought I was bound to be rubbish?" Ron demanded.

"No, of course I didn't! Look, you said it was lousy so I just—"

"I'm going to get started on some homework," Ron said angrily. He stomped off to the staircase to the boys' dormitories and vanished from sight.

Hermione turned to Harry and asked, "_Was_ he lousy?"

"No," Harry answered loyally.

Hermione raised her eyebrows.

"Well, I suppose he could've played better," Harry muttered, "but it was only the first training session, like you said..."

"What's up with Ron?" said a voice behind Harry.

He turned to see Percy standing behind him.

"Oh, he's just in a bad mood," Harry told him.

Percy shrugged. Then he said, "What're the brooms for?"

Harry was really surprised. "You've never heard of Quidditch?"

Percy hesitated, and then face palmed. "Yeah, wow. I'm an idiot. Of course I've heard of Quidditch."

Harry smiled. "Yeah...Well, I should get some work done. Where's Nico?"

"Dorm," Percy said. "He's coming back down." He hesitated. "I don't really know how things run at Hogwarts. What kind of work do you have?"

"Have you gotten your schedules?" Hermione asked.

Percy shook his head.

"I bet you two will get them at breakfast on Monday," Hermione said wisely.

Percy nodded. "Well, see you," he said, and he walked back into his corner.

Neither Harry nor Ron seemed to make much headway with their homework that night. Ron was preoccupied with Quidditch, and Harry was having trouble getting the Slytherins' chant of _"Gryffindor are losers" _out of his head.

Sunday was boring for them. They had to get their work done, as it was the last day before school started for the week again. Harry and Ron spent the whole day buried in their books while the room around them filled up, and then slowly emptied. By the evening, Harry's head was aching like crazy. Not his scar...his _head_.

Harry and Ron were getting slightly desperate. Hermione was mad at both of them, though Harry wasn't exactly sure what he had done wrong. When she came back down to the common room, Hermoine wandered over to them, yawning.

"Nearly done?" she asked.

"No," Ron said shortly.

Hermione scanned Ron's astronomy paper. "Jupiter's biggest moon is Ganymede, not Callisto," she told him, "an it's Io that's got the volcanos."

"Thanks," Ron growled. He scratched out the offending sentences.

"Sorry, I only—"

"Yeah, well, if you've just come over here to criticize—"

"Ron—"

"I haven't got time to listen to a sermon, all right, Hermione, I'm up to my neck in it here—"

"No—look!" Hermione said, pointed to the nearest window.

Harry glanced up and saw an owl standing on the windowsill, gazing into the room at Ron.

Harry looked around the common room. The only other people in there were Percy and Nico, who were again sitting in the corner, whispering to each other.

"Isn't that Hermes?" Hermione said, sounding amazed.

_"__Who?"_ Percy's voice came across the room.

Ron and Hermione ignored him.

"Blimey, it is!" Ron said quietly. He threw down his quill and got to his feet. "What's Percy writing to me for?"

"What about me?" Percy asked.

Harry snorted and turned to him. "Percy is Ron's brother. Hermes is his owl."

Percy shook his head and turned to Nico. Harry caught the word _irony_ somewhere in there.

"That's definitely Percy's handwriting," Ron said. "What d'you reckon?"

"Open it!" said Hermione eagerly. Harry nodded.

As Ron scanned the letter, his face became more and more angry. When he finished, he looked disgusted. He thrust the parchment and Harry and Hermione.

**(READ THE BOOK TO FIND OUT WHAT IT SAYS. THE LETTER IS LONG; I'M NOT WRITING IT OUT.)**

When Harry finished reading, he looked up at Ron. He noted that Percy (Jackson) and Nico were watching them.

"Well," he said, trying to sound as though he found the whole thing a joke, "if you want to—er—what is it?" (He checked Percy's letter.) "Oh yeah—'sever ties' with me, I swear I won't get violent."

"Give it back," Ron said, holding out his hand. Percy and Nico were walking toward them, but Harry was watching Ron. "He is—" Ron said jerkily, tearing Percy's letter in half, "the world's"—he tore it into quarters—"biggest"—he tore it into eighths—"_git._" He threw the pieces into the fire.

Percy said, "What's going on?"

Ron shook his head. "Come on, we've got to get this finished some time before dawn." He pulled the essay toward him.

Harry turned to Percy and Nico. "Percy is Ron's older brother. He works at the ministry."

Nico thought for a second. "Why does Ron seem so—testy?"

Harry cringed. He looked over at Ron, who was looking gratefully at Hermione, though Harry didn't know why. "Percy isn't on good terms with his family," Harry said. He left the sentence hanging in order to finish his own essay from Professor Sinistra.

It was past midnight when Percy and Nico went upstairs. He stared into the fire, thinking of his godfather. And then, suddenly, he saw his face. Harry slid hurriedly off his chair and onto the floor. _"Sirius?"_

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

^Percy

Percy and Nico walked up the stairs after Harry pretty much dissed them for his homework. They stopped in the fifth-year dorm, speaking in whispers so they didn't wake up the other three boys that were sleeping.

"So...any plans?" Percy asked.

Nico sighed. "I think we just need to get close to him—and his two friends. We need to find out what's going on in the wizarding world, and in Harry's life. His—his family, friends, teachers, et cetera."

Percy nodded. "And then...the hard part."

Nico shrugged. "Yeah, and we need to find out Harry's story. Have you seen that scar on his forehead?"

"The lightning shaped one?" Percy asked.

"Yeah, that one. It radiates death like crazy."

Percy grimaced. "Oh, that doesn't sound good. Well, we start classes tomorrow, right? Maybe that will give us a better idea of Harry's school life. Good thing you're his age. Just...keep in eye on him in your classes."

"Yeah," Nico said. "Well, see you later. I should...sleep."

Percy wondered what he was thinking about, but he could pretty much guess why he was reluctant to go to bed. Demigod dreams were horrible, and they hadn't gotten any better since the end of their second war.

"Yeah," Percy said quietly. "See you tomorrow at breakfast."

Percy walked off into the seventh-year dorm and sat down on his bed.

He slept dreamlessly, which was weird. Maybe it had something to do with the wizarding world. Whatever it was, Percy was grateful.

He woke up happily, despite the fact that it was to Fred and George screaming in his ear.

**Author's note:** Please review! Feel free to make suggestions and ask any questions you want. I'll answer them in my next chapter. Love you!

I'll be updating next on February 4th. I have Freshman Orientation on Tuesday (gross). So, yeah. Let's hope I don't blow up the band room!


	6. Chapter 6

**DISLCAIMER:** I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter. Those belong to Rick Riordan and J. K. Rowling.

**Author's note:** Sorry it's been longer than normal. I don't want to make excuses, so I won't.

My birthday's soon. I keep getting questions like, _Hey, Jayelyyn, what do you want to do for your birthday this year?_

Unfortunately, it's on a Monday this year, so my response every time is something like, _Not school._

They keep pestering me for information. Ugh. Just giving you an update on my life. If you didn't like it, then I'm sorry. Could've just skipped it and went onto the story! I do it all the time. Love you anyway.

^Nico

Nico waited for Percy in the common room the next morning. First day of classes! Yay! Yeah, no. Nico didn't want to sit in a classroom and learn about something that seemed severely uninteresting to him. And being in a different year than Percy wasn't very good either. They wouldn't be able to talk as much, which was a very bad thing. The plan that Nico had devised didn't seem like much of a plan, but Percy had seemed satisfied. At least it was something to _do_.

He heard a scream upstairs, but it wasn't like a scream of terror or anything. It was more of an unnecessarily loud shout. Five minutes later, Percy was looking grumpy but well-slept and Fred and George were grinning ear-to-ear.

Nico understood immediately. He laughed as he stood up. "Yeah, he's a deep sleeper."

George nodded exasperatedly. "We tried a million different things to wake him up."

"Wouldn't budge," Fred added, nodding.

Percy grinned. "I'm hungry. Breakfast?"

"Great Hall," George said, and he led the way, alongside his twin.

Percy and Nico sat down, and Percy immediately started wolfing down his breakfast. Nico picked at his food, and ended up eating about half a plate before he decided he was full.

Neither of them payed Harry, Ron, or Hermione any attention until Harry said loudly, "She's been a WHAT?"

Percy looked up in time to hear Hermione say grimly, "Wait, there's more," and continue reading off of a newspaper with a bunch of moving black-and-white pictures on it.

"—_'an immediate success, totally revolutionizing the teaching of Defense Against the Dark Arts and providing the Minister with on-the-ground feedback about what's really happening at Hogwarts.'_

"_It is this last function that the Ministry had now formalized with the passing of Educational Decree Twenty-Three, which creates the new position of 'Hogwarts High Inquisitor.'_

"_'This is an exciting new phase in the Minister's plan to get to grips with what some are calling the "falling standards" at Hogwarts,' said Weasley. 'The Inquisitor will have powers to inspect her fellow educators and make sure that they are coming up to scratch. Professor Umbridge has been offered this position in addition to her own teaching post, and we are delighted to say that she had accepted.'"_

By then, both Nico and Percy were listening intently. Nico wondered who on earth this Umbridge woman could be.

"_'The Ministry's new moves have received enthusiastic support from parents of students at Hogwarts._

"_'I feel much easier in my mind now that I know Dumbledore is being subjected to fair and objective evaluation,' said Mr. Lucius Malfoy, 41, speaking from his Wiltshire mansion last night. 'Many of us with our children's best interests at heart have been concerned about some of Dumbledore's eccectric decisions in the last few years and will be glad to know that the Ministry is keeping an eye on the situation.'_

"_Among those 'eccentric decisions' are undoubtedly the controversial staff appointments previously described in this newspaper, which have included the hiring of werewolf Remus Lupin, half-giant Rubeus Hagrid, and delusional ex-Auror 'Mad-Eye' Moody._

"_Rumors abound, of course, that Albus Dumbledore, once Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, is no longer up to the task of managing the prestigious school of Hogwarts._

"_'I think the appointment of the Inquisitor is a first step toward ensuring that Hogwarts has a headmaster in whom we can all repose confidence,' said a Ministry insider last night._

"_Wizengamot elders Griselda Marchbanks and Tiberius Ogden have resigned in protest at the introduction of the post of Inquisitor to Hogwarts._

"_'Hogwarts is a school, not an outpost of Cornelius Fudge's office,' said Madam Marchbanks. 'This is a further disgusting attempt to discredit Albus Dumbledore.' (For a full account of Madam Marchbanks' alleged links to subversive goblin groups, turn to page 17)."_

Hermione finished reading and looked up with an outraged look on her face.

"Who's Umbridge?" Nico asked, before Hermione could say anything.

Hermoine scowled and said, "New Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

Percy tilted his head, and Nico followed his gaze. He was staring at Harry, who was staring at the back of his hand, his fist clenched.

It was scarred: faint white lines formed into words that Nico could read easily. _I must not tell lies. _Nico wondered who on earth would cut that into Harry's skin, and then thought: _Umbridge_. Was she really _that_ evil?

But Ron was grinning. "Oh, I can't wait to see McGonagall inspected," he said happily. "Umbridge won't know what's hit her."

Hermione was about to say something when an old woman appeared at Nico's side. Her hair was pulled up tight in a bun, and her mouth was pressed into a thin line, though Nico didn't know what she was angry about. Maybe she always looked like that.

"Mr. di Angelo, Mr. Jackson," she said, handing each of them pieces of parchment. "Your schedules. I see that you have all the same classes as Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter, here, so ask them if you're struggling to find classes. Mr. Jackson, you have the same classes as Fred and George Weasley. Have them show you around."

Nico and Percy nodded. "Thank you," they said simultaneously.

"Well, come on," Hermoine said, jumping up, "we'd better get going, if she's inspecting Binns's class we don't want to be late..."

Percy and Nico stood. Percy looked up and whispered, "Good luck. Gather what you can," and followed Fred and George out of the Great Hall.

Nico followed the three fifth years silently. Their first class, History of Magic, was even duller than Nico had expected it to be. Binns's voice had started causing Nico severe drowsiness within five minutes of starting his lecture.

And then Nico followed them down to Potions. The Professor, Snape, handed back some sort of paper and talked about O.W.L.s or something like that. Then he set the class a potion to make. Harry had a look of determination on his face, and Nico noted how Snape looked at Harry—absolute loathing. Nothing less.

When they were done with their strengthening solutions, Nico had done better than he thought he would, and Harry turned in a flask of it to Snape's desk looking defiant and relieved.

Well, there was one thing about Harry's school life: Snape hated Harry, and Harry hated Snape. He didn't know why, but Nico got the feeling that Harry didn't know the full story of why Snape hated him, either. Nico wouldn't push that one.

Nico sat down at the Gryffindor table for lunch. Hermione, Ron, and Harry were talking about O.W.L.s again when Percy finally showed up with Fred and George. Percy sat down across from Nico and whispered, "Find anything?"

"Not much," Nico admitted. "Erm...have you seen Professor Snape yet?"

Percy shook his head.

"Snape hates Harry. No, Snape _loathes_ Harry. I have no idea why, but it's mutual."

Percy looked up at the staff table. "Which one is he?"

"Head of Slytherin," Nico said. "He's the one with the black hair and hooked nose."

Percy grimaced. "Yeah, I see him. He looks..."

"He is," Nico answered. "Well, see if you can get anything out of Fred and George about Harry. Subtly, though. I don't want them to think we're being nosy."

Percy nodded. "Yeah...I've already got something. Harry's parents were killed by Voldemort when he was about a year old. Voldemort turned to Harry himself, but for some reason Harry wasn't killed by whatever curse Voldemort had used. Voldemort disappeared that same night."

Nico gaped. "How in the world did you find that out?"

"Combination of newspapers and questions. Anyway, that's how Harry got his scar. You know—the lightning-shaped one. That's why it radiates death."

Nico nodded. "It makes sense."

Percy smirked. "Yeah, I know. I'm smarter than I look. Well, I'll see you."

Nico looked up to see Fred and George standing, getting ready to exit the Great Hall again.

"Yeah, see you," Nico said, and Percy walked off with Fred and George.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood. Nico immediately got up, but he went to stand beside Harry this time.

"Where are we going?" Nico asked Harry.

"Divination," Harry answered sullenly. So Harry didn't like Divination. Nico didn't like it much, either, to be honest. The whole _telling the future _thing...too many bad experiences with that.

Nico just nodded.

There was an odd, evil-looking sort of woman sitting in the corner of the classroom when they appeared, along with who Nico inferred was Professor Trelawney.

After asking the person closest to him, Nico found out that the woman that looked like a toad that had been succumbed to dress-up with a six-year-old was Umbridge, the woman from the paper that morning, the one who Nico guessed had cut Harry's hand.

It was an odd lesson. Nico was very reluctant to share his dreams with Professor Trelawney, so he just made some stuff up. Most of the kids in the class were doing the same thing.

Umbridge asked Trelawney questions, and Nico could tell that Trelawney was failing miserably. She seemed only a slightly respectable teacher.

Nico was relieved when the class was finally over, but Nico—unfortunately—had to see more of Umbridge, as their next class was Defense Against the Dark Arts.

The class seemed to be talking as much as they could before the bell rang and Umbridge called for order.

"Wands away," she instructed, with a sick, falsely sweet smile. "As we finished chapter one last lesson, I would like you all to turn to page nineteen today and commence chapter two, 'Common Defensive Theories and Their Derivation.' There will be no need to talk."

Nico raised his eyebrows. _That was it?_ This was even more boring than History of Magic!

He sighed and opened his book, but something caught his attention. Hermione's hand was in the air, and she definitely didn't strike Nico as the kind of girl that would ever turn down an opportunity to read.

Umbridge noticed, got up, walked around her desk, and bent down. In a whisper that Nico could hear, because he was sitting right behind them, she said, "What is it this time, Miss Granger?"

"I've already read chapter two," Hermione said in a clear, carrying voice.

"Well then, proceed to chapter three."

"I've read that too. I've read the whole book."

Umbridge blinked, and then recovered her poise. "Well, then, you should be able to tell me what Slinkhard says about counterjinxes in chapter fifteen."

Hermione nodded. "He says that counterjinxes are improperly named. He says 'counterjinx' is just a name people give their jinx when they want to make them sound more acceptable."

Umbridge raised her eyebrows, and they rose even higher when Hermione said, "But I disagree."

"You disagree?"

"Yes, I do," said Hermione. The whole class was looking at Hermione and Umbridge now. Nico couldn't blame them. This was much more interesting than _Defensive Magical Theory_. "Mr. Slinkhard doesn't like jinxes, does he? But I think they can be very useful when they're used defensively."

Nico couldn't help but be impressed by Hermione's nerve. She seemed to have no problem back-talking a teacher that she didn't like.

"Oh, you do, do you?" said Professor Umbridge, now forgetting to whisper. "Well, I'm afraid it is Mr. Slinkhard's opinion, and not yours, that matters within this classroom, Miss Granger."

"But—"

"That is enough," Umbridge said. She walked back to the front of the class and turned her from behind her desk. "Miss Granger, I am going to take five points from Gryffindor House."

The whole class started muttering, and Harry said angrily, "What for?"

"Don't you get involved!" Hermione whispered urgently to Harry.

"For disrupting my class with pointless interruptions," Umbridge said smoothly.

Nico zoned out of Umbridge's little speech in order to stare at Harry. Nico could feel Harry's temper rising the longer Umbridge spoke, and it did not surprise him when Harry burst out loudly, "Yeah, Quirrell was a great teacher, there was just that minor drawback of him having Lord Voldemort sticking out of the back of his head."

The silence after Harry's comment was anything but silent. And then Umbridge said sleekly, "I think another week's detentions would do you some good, Mr. Potter."

Harry scowled, subconsciously clenching his right hand. Umbridge gave him the details, and Harry was quiet for the rest of the class period, silently fuming, shaking with anger.

When the lesson was over, Harry stood up briskly, walked out of the classroom with Hermione and Ron, and headed off to the Gryffindor common room without waiting for Nico.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Nico led Percy to a corner in the common room and whispered, "You know who Umbridge is?"

"The evil one that looks like she was dressed by a six-year-old? Yeah. Why?"

"She and Harry are _not_ on good terms."

"Like, how?"

"I don't really know how to describe it. But—you noticed that scars on Harry's hand, right?"

Percy grimaced and nodded. "I could tell it said something, but with my dyslexia and being across the table from him, I couldn't tell what it said."

Nico clenched his jaw and said, "His scar reads _I must not tell lies_."

Percy raised his eyebrows. "You think Umbridge did that to him?"

"I _know_ Umbridge did that to him," Nico said.

Percy scowled, making him look quite terrifying. "That foul...evil..."

Nico nodded but said, "Percy, calm down. Your..._aura_...gets really strong when you're angry. You know that?"

Percy's face cleaned of most of his anger, and he looked confused and curious. _"Aura?"_

Nico nodded. "The smell of the sea gets more intense and the air around you...sort of..._thickens_, I guess. The instincts of everyone surrounding you scream _Duck!_"

Percy raised his eyebrows. "You know you have that too, right? I mean, not the whole sea and the _Duck!_ thing, but anger rolls off of you in dark waves and—"

The rest of Percy's sentence was cut off by a scream coming from the corridor outside the common room and someone else yelling, "What the bloody hell is _that_?"

Percy and Nico stood up immediately and followed the sound of the screaming voices.

0o0o0o0o0

**Author's note:** Sorry about the small cliffhanger!

Reviews are really, really appreciated. Questions and suggestions are cool.

I'm looking for some good fanfics to read. **If you know of a good Harry Potter or Percy Jackson (or both) fanfiction, tell me about it! I want to read it!**


	7. Chapter 7

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own the Harry Potter or Percy Jackson characters. Those belong to J. K. Rowling and Rick Riordan!

**Author's note:** Guess who turns fourteen on Monday? Jayelyyn! My parents are probably going to force me to do fun stuff on Monday, so I'll be updating somewhere around Tuesday. Sorry it's been a bit longer than usual. My internet shut down for two days. I've had this chapter written for two days, and not being able to post it was kind of murdering me. Enjoy the chapter! Sorry-not-sorry for the small cliffe!

0o0o0o0o0

^Harry

Harry's hand was throbbing like crazy by the time he got out of his first detention with Umbridge that week. The words_ I must not tell lies_ were definitely never going to go away. Harry tried to ignore it as he trudged up the stairs to Gryffindor Tower, but he was finding it difficult.

It became significantly less difficult when he heard a scream coming from somewhere above him. Harry dropped what he was thinking and sprinted up the stairs.

He had been expecting an attack. Hell, he'd been extremely on guard and prepared for one. But how could a Death Eater get this far into the castle without Dumbledore noticing? He might've turned a blind eye on Harry, but Harry was more than positive that he wouldn't turn a blind eye on impending Death Eater attacks.

Harry reached the landing of the stairs and turned to his left.

He froze.

What in the name of Merlin was _that_? It was disgusting, and definitely not human. Instead of legs, it had snake tails that it half-walked and half-slithered on. It did look human enough from the waist up...except for the terrible shade of green that was her skin. She had long, black hair and cold eyes. She was carrying a spear and a shield while attacking everything in sight.

Harry had almost recovered his wits when suddenly, through the portrait hole, Percy Jackson came busting out, with Nico di Angelo about a second behind him.

Percy charged straight at the monster, seemingly weaponless. But then, out of nowhere, there was a long, shimmering bronze sword in Percy's right hand, and he slashed at the snake-lady without hesitation.

All Harry could do was watch in amazement as Percy fought the monster. The thing would hiss as Percy's sword came close, step back, and jab with her spear with amazing speed and agility. But, unfortunately for her, Percy had even_ more_ speed and agility. Percy pressed her back, and after distracting her, he gave Nico and look. Nico seemed to immediately understand, and he nodded.

Harry wished he could communicate with his friends like that. It'd be really convenient.

The snake-lady suddenly charged straight at Percy, and Percy smirked at her, his intense eyes saying a clear message: _Go on, have at it. Good luck getting anywhere near me, though._

Crazy-Snake-Lady raised her arm, her spear aimed directly at Percy's heart. Harry heard more screams throughout the corridor as the thing got closer, but Percy didn't seem very concerned. Just as she started to bring down the spear, someone appeared right behind her, slashed a black sword her midriff, and she exploded into some sort of yellow powder.

Percy grasped Nico's hand in a solid, slightly painful-looking handshake. They both smiled, but when they looked up, the smiles were wiped off of their faces.

"So much for undercover," Nico muttered quietly to Percy, but the corridor was silent enough that everybody could hear him. Everone was frozen in shock, staring at either Percy, Nico, or the dust scattered around the floor. For once, nobody was staring at Harry. Harry couldn't help but smile a little bit at that thought.

"Do you think the Mist will work on them?" Percy whispered back to Nico.

"One way to find out," Nico responded.

Percy nodded, and then looked back up to everyone surrounding them. He held up his hand like he was about to snap, and said, "None of this happened. Nico dropped a pot of cornflour on the ground, and now we're helping clean it up." And then Percy snapped. He quickly bent down to help Nico, who had started gathered up the powder all over the floor.

And Harry believed him, though somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew something was vaguely wrong with it.

0o0o0o0o0

^Percy

"I still feel kinda bad for doing that to them," Percy said, two hours later.

Nico opened his mouth to say something back, but Percy held up his hand and muttered, "Yeah, I know it was necessary. But I can't help the feeling of guilt."

Nico seemed to think about this for a second, and then said, "I didn't like it much, either. Did you see Harry's face? He still seemed...suspicious."

Percy nodded. "I did notice that. You think that'll be a problem? Or maybe he'll just forget about the incident and move on with his life."

"We'll have to watch ourselves," Nico warned. "Monster attacks...I didn't really think that a monster would get this far into the school. It seems to be heavily protected."

"Yeah, but I need to talk to you about something else. The actual mission."

Nico grimaced. "I don't think we should..."

"Then, what are we going to do? Chiron was so vague...how are we going to figure it out if we don't talk about it?" Percy asked.

"I dunno. I just..."

Percy raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, we need to talk about it."

Nico nodded reluctantly. "Yeah, we do."

"Chiron was so vague..." Percy repeated. "I mean, the words _When the time comes? Defy the Fates?"_

"I don't think anyone has ever defied the Fates before. I really don't think it's possible."

"But...we need to, in order to succeed on our quest."

Percy watched as Nico stared at the ground, thinking. Nico knew way more about the Fates than Percy did, and it was a bad sign that Nico was in such a bad mood. Apparently, defying the Fates was impossible. But they had to. Did their quest make _any_ sense at all? And this man that they were supposed to save...Percy and Nico knew nothing about him, or even who he was; just a name.

Chiron's exact words: _Protect Harry Potter while you're at Hogwarts. When the time comes, defy the fates, and save the man._

The man. No, not Harry. Someone else. Someone else entirely.

"We should...I dunno, get to bed," Nico said. "We'll talk about this some other time."

Percy nodded reluctantly and got up out of his chair in the Gryffindor common room. As Nico trudged back up the stairs, Percy stared around the common room. There were Fred and George, sitting in a corner and whispering with their heads together. Ron and Hermione were sitting on the floor on the left side of the fire, and Harry was sitting on the right. Harry was staring at his hand, and Hermione looked like she was scolding him. Ron looked incredulous.

Percy sighed and got up. He might as well go to bed, too. Nothing like a monster attack to exhaust you.

0o0o0o0o0

The next night, Percy and Nico were sitting unseen in the common room. The only other people in there were Ron and Hermione, and they were oblivious to their presence. From what Hermione and Ron had said, the demigods gathered that they were waiting for Harry to get back from detention with Umbridge.

Hermione held a bowl of weird yellow liquid in her lap. Ron was looking thoughtful and anxious. When the portrait hole finally opened to reveal a miserable-looking Harry, Hermione sprang up instantly from her chair and rushed over to him, Ron half a step behind her.

"Here," she said to Harry, pushing the bowl toward him.

She started talking to Harry some more, and Nico sighed and said, "Why are we hiding here, again?"

Percy shrugged. "We need to find out more about Harry. We can't ask any more questions without looking suspicious. So we resort to spying."

Nico mulled this over for a second, and then nodded mutely.

Both of them turned back to the three wizards.

"—another Decree saying anyone who complains about the High Inquisitor gets sacked immediately?" Harry was saying.

Percy had no idea what he was talking about, thanks to the fact that he and Nico had started talking.

Percy sort of zoned out...he wasn't listening to anything Harry or Hermione or Ron was saying. He just watched Harry's face for any unusual emotion—anger, sadness. After a few minutes, Harry started showing this look of suspicion on his face. Percy instantly snapped back into reality and started listening to what he was saying.

"If you're talking about Lupin..." Harry said slowly.

"No, no, I'm not talking about Lupin," Hermione responded. Percy couldn't see her face, as her and Ron's backs were turned to the demigods. "He's too busy with the Order anyway, the most we could see him is during Hogsmeade weekends and that's not nearly often enough."

Percy wondered what the Order was, and Hogsmeade. He looked over to Nico, and Nico shrugged, pulled out a piece of paper, and started scribbling in Ancient Greek. Percy looked over and saw the words _Order_ and _Hog's Mead._

Percy had gotten distracted again. Damn his ADHD.

"About me what?" Harry said. Once again, Percy had no idea what was going on. Great. He was obviously an _amazing_ spy.

"I'm talking about _you_ teaching us Defense Against the Dark Arts," Hermione said.

Harry looked stunned, and he stared at Hermione. Percy wondered what could make him qualified to teach a bunch of people his own age Defense Against the Dark Arts. Yeah, Percy knew that he somehow made the most evil wizard ever known disappear, but Harry had only been a year old then. How could Harry have known what he was doing at the time?

"That's an idea," Ron said.

"What's an idea?" Harry asked. His face was uncomprehending.

"You," Ron said to him. "Teaching us to do it."

"But..." Harry trailed off. Then, he started grinning. "But I'm not a teacher, I can't—"

"Harry, you're the best in our year at Defense Against the Dark Arts," Hermione said.

Percy raised his eyebrows. Okay, there's a reason. _Best in the year? Even Hermione?_

"Me?" Harry said, grinning broadly, like he thought Hermione was joking. "No I'm not, you've beaten me in every test—"

"Actually, I haven't," Hermione said, her voice reminding Percy a lot of Annabeth when she was correcting him (which was, like, all the time). "You beat me in our third year—the only year we both sat the test and had a teacher who actually knew the subject. But I'm not talking about test results, Harry. Look at what you've _done_!"

Percy and Nico looked at each other. _Here it comes,_ Nico's eyes seemed to say. Percy nodded and turned back to the three wizards with rapt attention.

"How d'you mean?" Harry asked them.

"You know what, I'm not sure I want someone this stupid teaching me," Ron said to Hermoine. "Let's think," he said, turning to Harry. "Uh...first year—you saved the Stone from You-Know-Who."

Harry shook his head immediately. "But that was luck, that wasn't skill—"

"Second year," Ron cut Harry off, "you killed the basilisk and destroyed Riddle."

Percy gaped. _Basilisks? _He had encountered a bunch of basilisks in Alaska, and they had not been pleasant. In fact, his friend Frank had to kill them using an undead warrior.

"Yeah," Harry said, "but if Fawkes hadn't turned up I—"

"Third year," Ron said, a bit louder, "you fought off about a hundred dementors at once—"

"You know that was a fluke, if the Time-Turner hadn't—"

"Last year," Ron said, louder still, "you fought off You-Know-Who again—"

"Listen to me!" Harry said, a hint of anger in his voice. Percy was staring at Harry, wondering just how alike they were.

Percy had felt the same thing before. He'd felt like everything he'd done was fake, due to the fact that he had friends with him, or the help of some god or goddess. People had made him out to be a hero, but everything he'd done hadn't really been as heroic as it sounded.

"Just listen to me, all right?" Harry continued. "It sounds great when you say it like that, but all that stuff was luck—I didn't know what I was doing half the time, I didn't plan any of it, I just did whatever I could think of, and I nearly always had help—"

Harry broke off and looked at Ron and Hermione, and whatever he saw seemed to enrage him even more.

"Don't sit there grinning like you know better than I do, I was there, wasn't I? I know what went on, all right? And I didn't get through any of that because I was brilliant at Defense Against the Dark Arts, I got through it all because—because help came at the right time, or because I guessed right—but I just blundered through it all, I didn't have a clue what I was doing—STOP LAUGHING!"

Harry stood up angrily, and the bowl of yellow liquid crashed to the floor. A furry ginger cat streaked away and his under a sofa at the sound of Harry's outburst.

"_You don't know what it's like!_" Harry almost yelled. "You—neither of you—you've never had to face him, have you? You think it's just memorizing a bunch of spells and throwing them at him, like you're in class or something? The whole time you know there's nothing between you and dying except your own—your own brain or guts or whatever—like you can think straight when you know you're about a second from being murdered, or tortured, or watching your friends die—they've never taught us that in their classes, what it's like to deal with things like that—and you two sit there acting like I'm a clever little boy to be standing here, alive, like Diggory was stupid, like he messed up—you just don't get it, that could just as easily have been me, it would have been if Voldemort hadn't needed me—"

Ron interrupted him, but Percy wasn't paying attention anymore. He glanced down at Nico, who had been writing furiously in Ancient Greek. The list now had all of the following words:

_Order_

_Hog's Mead_

_Stone_

_Riddle_

_Fox_

_Dementors_

_Time turner_

_Diggory_

"We need to find out what these things are," Nico whispered to Percy. "Ron just spilled _a lot _of Harry's life."

Percy nodded grimly and turned his attention back to Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"—facing him...facing V-Voldemort," Hermione was saying. She sounded extremely close to tears, and her voice was laced with fear as she stuttered on the last word.

All of the anger seemed to wipe from Harry's face, and he seemed suddenly calmer. He sank back into his chair and was starting to look guilty.

"Well...think about it," Hermione said quietly. "Please?" When Harry silently nodded, she stood up and said, "Well, I'm off to bed. Erm...'night."

"Coming?" Ron said awkwardly to Harry as he got to his feet.

"Yeah. In...in a minute. I'll just clean this up," Harry said, gesturing to the yellow liquid on the floor and the broken bowl.

Ron nodded and left.

Harry took out his wand, muttered, "_Reparo_," and the bowl automatically fixed itself.

Percy was staring at it when something unexpected happened.

Harry turned in Percy and Nico's direction and said, "I know you're there. If you wanted to know about my past, you could've just asked me."

0o0o0o0

**Author's note: **Please leave a review! They're seriously appreciated!

I'll be posting a Leo Valdez one-shot on my birthday. I wrote it on paper during school a while ago (I think it's four pages, front and back). I thought it was good. I just need to get it typed up.

Tell me what you think. Suggestions and questions are brilliant. Thanks!


	8. Chapter 8

**DISLCLAIMER:** I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter—Rick Riordan and J. K. Rowling do.

**Author's note:** Can I just take a second to rant? Thank you. My internet's been on and off for a month now, and last week, it completely shut down. I've been writing on my laptop, but the only places I could get to the internet were freaking Starbucks and at school, on my phone. And I don't have my writings on my phone. So, CURSE THE DAMN WIFI AT MY HOUSE. It just...ugh...CHUFTER! But, it came miraculously back on this morning, so here I am. Anyway...thanks for your responses! I'm changing the title of the story, because I've been wanting to change it for a while now, and it was mentioned in a review. So, don't be confused! An Impossible Quest. Enjoy!

Also, the Leo one-shot was postponed so that I could update this story for you. I had a small suspicion that you'd want me to put this story before the other one.

0o0o0o0o0

^Percy

Percy sat there, shocked. He thought he had been well-hidden, and judging by the look on Nico's face, he had assumed the same thing.

Harry stared grimly at the two demigods. Percy couldn't help but wonder just exactly how he had known, since it was obvious that neither Hermione nor Ron had noticed. Maybe Harry was just extremely observant.

Percy stood up, and Nico seemed immensely concerned. Before Percy could start walking toward Harry, Nico grabbed Percy and pulled him roughly back down.

"What?" Percy asked, irritated.

"He shouldn't be able to see us. We're in the shadows."

"We are?" Percy asked. He hadn't noticed.

Nico was alarmed; Percy could tell.

Harry was still standing, staring in the direction of Percy and Nico. That's when Percy realized...he obviously couldn't _see_ them. What if he could _sense_ them?

"We need to talk to him," Percy whispered to Nico.

Nico sighed. "Fine." He waved his hand, and suddenly Percy felt more solid...though he hadn't noticed that he didn't feel solid in the first place.

Harry raised his eyebrows. "That _is_ why you're spying on me, right?"

Percy stood up again. This time, Harry actually saw him.

Reluctantly, Percy nodded.

"Of course," Harry sighed. "Though, I'm not sure why. Most wizards already know about my past. Things spread like wildfire in the wizarding world, and even faster at Hogwarts."

As Percy walked closer to Harry, Harry narrowed his eyes.

_This is not good. He's getting really suspicious._

Though Percy could tell that Harry had been suspicious long before then.

"I don't...I don't appreciate you spying on me. Please, just...don't let it happen again. I won't ask questions, I won't pry. But something is up with you two, and me and Ron and Hermione...you should know, we'll figure it out."

Percy had no doubt of what Harry was saying.

Harry turned toward the boys' dormitories, but before he could start ascending the staircase, he turned and said, "We've solved impossible mysteries before, and we can do it again."

He disappeared up the stairs.

"How did Harry know we were there?" Nico suddenly burst out.

Sitting down hard on the floor next to the fire, Percy said, "I dunno, Nico. But we need to be careful. I don't doubt what Harry said in any way."

Nico shook his head. "I don't, either."

Right then, Percy made a silent vow to himself. He _had_ to make Harry trust them. After all, that was the first part of the quest. But also, Chiron had said it was extremely important to the second part.

Percy was determined. He would _not_ fail this quest, no matter how impossible it seemed. He would make them proud. All of them. His friends, Annabeth, his mom, Paul, and his father, Poseidon. He couldn't fail.

0o0o0o0o0

^Harry

Harry was heading out for Quidditch practice a few days later, when he noticed Nico and Percy walking along the grounds, talking. But they didn't seem in an amazing mood.

He didn't want to eavesdrop, but this was a golden opportunity. As Harry got closer to the two Americans, he noticed something that made him stop in his tracks, surprised.

Percy had _arms_.

Harry realized that he had never seen Percy without sleeves on. The seventh-year had his jacket folded over his right arm, like he had taken it off because it was too hot.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Harry kept walking.

The Americans sat down at the edge of the lake, still talking grimly. Harry tried to pay attention to what they were saying, but he couldn't hear anything. They were speaking in whispers, like they wanted to keep whatever they were saying a secret.

Too many secrets. Too many lies.

Harry was good at being able to tell when someone was lying. He hated it with a strong passion, even though that was extremely hypocritical because he told lies all the time.

All of the lies Percy and Nico told...they bothered Harry, and made him want to know the truth even more. And after his last year at Hogwarts, being betrayed by a teacher he thought he could trust, he didn't want to be caught off guard again. Percy and Nico had tried to befriend Harry, and Harry pretended not to mind, but he didn't trust them at all.

And his _not trusting them_ increased tenfold when he saw Percy's left arm.

Harry was too far away from them to make it out, but there was definitely something there, right on the inside of his left forearm, right where the Dark Mark would be on a Death Eater.

His mind went into overdrive. _Why would Voldemort recruit a seventeen-year-old? Is Nico a Death Eater, too? Is he here to capture Harry? To spy on Harry? To gather information from Dumbledore?_

_Maybe_, Harry thought to himself, _it's not the Dark Mark. You're over thinking._

_No_, the logical side of his brain snapped back. _It's too much of a coincidence._

And if Harry had learned anything about the wizarding world, there were no such thing as coincidences.

Harry spun on his heel, feeling angrier than before—but no matter how much of a huge revelation this was, he didn't want Angelina yelling in his face for being late to Quidditch.

0o0o0o0o0

^Percy

Harry was getting distant. He didn't trust Percy at all. He seemed reluctant to talk to him, even if he tried to cover it up.

Percy couldn't help but feel slightly offended. He wondered what had made Harry so cold toward him all of the sudden.

Harry was brooding, and seemed constantly in pain. Percy wanted to help him, but Harry would never let Percy come within five feet of him.

This impossible quest was getting harder, and that was the last thing he needed.

0o0o0o0o0

^Harry

Harry was brooding. His friends had noticed.

He had a lot on his mind, okay? Percy's Dark Mark, his scar, his dreams, Umbridge, Dumbledore, the Order, Umbridge, Percy's Dark Mark, his scar, Dumbledore, Umbridge, his scar, and Umbridge.

Oh, and also the small matter of Hermione's suggestion: him teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts. He thought about it more than he wanted to. And even though Harry didn't believe he was fit to teach other people Defense, he found himself subconsciously planning lessons and thinking about methods of teaching them.

Meanwhile, his homework was piling up again, and he didn't even have detentions with Umbridge anymore. He spend a lot of time making up predictions for Trelawney with Ron, and struggling to form fluent essays with Hermione at his side.

But things were also getting better. Ron was becoming happier with Quidditch practices; all the three of them had managed to vanish their mice in Transfiguration (Wow, the wonders of _effort_!); and Harry's scar wasn't hurting as much as usual (though it still did hurt _a lot_).

Harry had stopped trying to investigate on Percy and Nico's case for the time being, seeing as he was extremely busy. But he suddenly brought the case back up when he stumbled across something he had _not_ been expecting.

He was on his way to visit Hagrid when he heard noises coming from the forbidden forest. Harry instinctively turned and went straight in.

Yeah, yeah, not very smart. He was Harry Potter, after all. An evil Dark Wizard was after him and had been for fifteen years. But his instincts, for some reason, told him that someone needed help. Harry didn't want anyone hurt.

When he found the commotion, he stopped dead.

There were the two most suspicious people in the school, beating up a business man with a bronze baseball bat and a black stiletto.

Harry gasped and raised his wand, shouting, _"Stupefy!"_ without thinking.

Time slowed down. The spell hurtled slowly toward Percy, and Percy turned, his eyes hard.

Those sea-green orbs blazed with power, and for a second, Harry was terrified. He averted his eyes as Percy slowly brought up his baseball bat to deflect the spell—but it wasn't a baseball bat. It shimmered, and turned into a long, faintly glowing bronze sword.

Just as the spell hit the sword, Harry's jaw dropped. It bounced off the sword and went hurtling straight back at Harry.

Harry hit the deck just in time for the spell to fly right over the top of his head, skimming his hair.

"What are you doing to...to that...man...?"

Before Harry had finished his sentence, he had looked up at the man, aiming to shoot him an apologetic look that said, _I'll get you out of this. Don't worry._

What he really saw was quite a bit more terrifying than a businessman.

It looked to be part humanoid female, and part bat. Its face was pug-nosed and furry, with bulging eyes and dangerous-looking fangs. It had matted gray fur, and piecemeal armor covering its body, shriveled arms with claws for hands, and stubby bowed legs. There were disgusting, leathery wings sprouting from its back.

Don't get Harry wrong, it did look kind of amusing. But their wings and legs and arms weren't what made them terrifying—it was those unnerving eyes. They glowed murderously.

"Merlin—what the bloody hell is _that_?" Harry exclaimed.

Percy was panting, his breathing rugged.

"Ugh!," Percy yelled. "Gods damn it! This is the second time this has happened!"

"I know!" Nico spat. "These—stupid—Keres—won't—back—off!" he continued, throwing a blow at the thing with every word.

Percy's movements were turning slow, sluggish. He paused for a second, took a deep breath, and then his muscles tensed.

He was blazing with power—Harry instinctively ducked, for some unknown reason. Suddenly, every part of his mind had just start screaming _DUCK!_

Harry watched as Percy jumped forward, swung his sword with amazing speed, and sliced right through the monster. It burst into dust—golden-yellow dust that reminded Harry strangely of cornflour.

Nico looked triumphant for only a few seconds; then it was wiped from his face when Percy suddenly fell to his knees, gasping, clutching his right shoulder.

"Percy!" Nico yelled. He ran forward and caught him before he could face plant in the grass.

"No need for that," Percy muttered. "Right here."

Harry was completely shocked, staring at Percy's wound. Was it _smoking_?

Nico grimaced and hesitantly touched Percy's shoulder. Percy yelled in pain, cringing away from Nico's touch.

"Same as last time," Nico muttered.

Percy was taking deep breaths, but was obviously finding it difficult. He was shuddering violently, and his face was contorted, holding his pain in. But he was crying—not from the pain. His face looked severely remorseful. It was grief-stricken.

"Nectar," Nico said. "I'm—ugh...I can't believe this is happening again. I'm pouring nectar on it."

Nico pulled a bottle of a strange liquid that looked kind of like apple juice out of a bag sitting four feet away.

Harry, recovering his wits, rushed forward and knelt next to Percy. No matter how much Harry didn't trust him, Percy was still human, and Harry couldn't bear seeing him in so much pain—Harry couldn't bear seeing _anyone_ in so much pain.

"What was that thing?" Harry asked as Nico unscrewed the bottle and poured a little bit over Percy's smoking wound. Percy stopped shuddering, but he was still grimacing, crying.

Percy opened his mouth to speak, but Nico glared at him, saying, "Don't you dare."

Percy spoke anyway. "Last time...didn't—didn't you say this needed a _god's_—"

"Shh!" Nico said quickly. "Yes, I know! This is a serious problem!"

"Call on Apollo or something!" Percy said. Then he coughed and took another deep breath.

"Stop talking!" Nico ordered. "You're wasting your energy! Besides, the gods don't come here, Chiron made that clear."

Percy's grimace became more pronounced. "That's—yeah, a serious problem."

"We need to get him to the hospital wing!" Harry said suddenly. "Don't just sit here, talking!"

"Does—does it look like I can move?" Percy asked.

Harry studied Percy, and he felt his stomach clench. Percy was extremely pale—getting to be even paler than Nico, and that was saying something. He had started shuddering again, and tears were rolling down his cheeks. His eyes held extreme sadness that Harry couldn't imagine feeling.

"What could any of you possibly have that could heal this?" Nico asked harshly.

Harry was slightly offended, and he said back, "What choice do you have?"

Nico thought for a second, and then said, "Fine."

"I'll—I'll go get Madam Pomfrey," Harry said, and he stood up quickly, running.

As he sprinted away, he heard Nico mutter, "Yeah, sure, and I'll pray desperately to Apollo."

As Harry sprinted numbly toward the hospital wing to fetch Madam Pomfrey, he thought. What was all this about _gods_?

He burst through the doors to the hospital, finding an angry-looking Madam Pomfrey coming toward him.

"What was that for? You can't just—!"

"Madam Pomfrey, you need to come. Quickly. It's Percy!"

The matron's face turned grim and she said, "Yes, yes. What are you standing here for? Lead the way!"

Harry spun on his heel, Madam Pomfrey hot on his trail. When they reached the spot where Percy was, they found him lying on the ground, shuddering violently again, and clenching his fists. Nico was kneeling next to Percy, his face tilted toward the sky, muttering to himself.

"Holy—what in the name of Merlin happened?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

Harry started to respond, but Nico suddenly snapped out of his..._whatever _that was...and turned toward him and Madam Pomfrey.

The matron didn't wait for an answer. She conjured a stretcher and levitated a surprised-and-in-pain-looking Percy onto it. She walked briskly out of the forest, with Nico on Percy's right and Harry on Percy's left, Madam Pomfrey in front.

Strangely, Harry saw an opportunity. Percy was going unconscious, Madam Pomfrey had her back turned to them, and Nico was staring at the sky again as they walked. He looked like he wanted to scream, but he didn't.

Harry, instinctively, grabbed Percy's sleeve and yanked it back so that he could see his..._mark._ Terror washed through him for a brief second as Percy's arm twitched, but Percy was completely out of it. Harry turned the American's arm and stared.

It wasn't the Dark Mark at all. It was strange, all right, but definitely not the Dark Mark. It was a trident and had the letters SPQR under it, followed by two stripes. Harry studied it quickly, memorizing the tattoo that looked oddly like a burn.

When they finally got to the Entrance Hall, Harry pushed Percy's sleeve back down, the image burned into his mind. And just in time, too. Nico had looked back down and stopped muttering.

It was an extremely long walk to the Hospital Wing, or that's what it felt like to Harry. After walking quickly in complete silence for forever, they made it there, and Madam Pomfrey transferred Percy onto one of the beds.

Suddenly, Harry felt terrible for avoiding Percy. He'd made assumptions.

He was sad as he sat next to Percy's bed, until Madam Pomfrey ushered him out.

0o0o0o0o0

^Nico

Nico's fruitless attempts at praying to Apollo were...well...fruitless. He then tried praying to his own dad, and then Percy's, and then Hermes, and...In short, Nico was getting desperate. This sort of wound took goldy power to heal, not just some stupid potion the matron could whip up or ambrosia squares.

But the gods weren't coming. Nico tried to convince himself that none of the gods would show up—yet he still couldn't help but keep praying.

Nico felt awful that this had happened again, especially since the person that had healed him from this the last time was Bob.

He wished Bob were here. And probably, painfully, so did Percy. Maybe that's what had made him seem so sad, why he had been crying.

Adamantly, Nico had refused to leave Percy's side. His face was buried in the mattress next to Percy's right arm, his mind reeling furiously. _How could he fix this? Before—_

"You called?" a voice said.

Nico's head snapped up.

0o0o0o0o0

**Author's note:** Please review! PLEASE! Sorry, again, for the longer-than-usual wait. ReViEw!


	9. Chapter 9

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson. They are the precious children of J. K. Rowling and Rick Riordan.

**Author's note: **Sorry for the wait...at least it wasn't quite as long as the last time! Also, if you have an idea of what might happen later in the story, don't start setting expectations. My way of dangerously and ominously foreshadowing later events is saying this: don't get your hopes up. LoVe yOu aLL!

0o0o0o0o0

^Nico

The voice was impossible.

Nico replayed the fragmented sentence over and over in his head, listening intently to the voice.

Sure, Nico had looked up. He saw the truth with his own eyes, standing five feet away from him. But he couldn't believe it. So he recalled the two words he had spoken, and yes—it was him.

Nico's mind blurred, and his vision tunneled. And no, he wasn't looking at the figure standing tall in front of him, and sad sort of grin on his face. No, he was staring at Percy. If Percy woke up, Nico was sure Percy would have a mental breakdown.

And he tried to figure out what he would do about it. After a few minutes of staring at Percy, Nico decided that unless Percy woke up to find him, Nico wouldn't tell him that this person was here. It seemed selfish of him, inconsiderate. But really, it was _extremely _considerate. What would seeing Bob again do to Percy after being forced to leave him in Tartarus to fight, well, _Tartarus_?

Because yes, the figure that had spoken was Bob. _Bob_.

Chiron had said the gods didn't come here. Yeah, well, the look on Bob's face when Nico looked back up at him seemed to say: _Yeah? I'm not a god. I'm a titan._

And he was proud.

Nico didn't know whether to smile or not. His mind was reeling furiously.

Finally, he spoke. "Bob?"

Bob smiled wider and nodded eagerly. Then he looked down at Percy and said, "Owie."

Nico watched as Bob brought his hand down on Percy's shoulder. The wound instantly healed and closed. Percy's breathing became even, and his face was no longer contorted in pain.

"He'll need sleep," Bob told Nico.

Nico nodded, staring at Percy's resting form. Right then, he looked at peace—young, carefree, innocent. He was relaxed. The son of Poseidon never looked like that. He was always guarded, his eyes humming with power and his shoulders tense. Looking at Percy's serene (and extremely good-looking) face, Nico was reminded that Percy was still a teenaged boy. He still needed sleep, food, and someone that cared about him. He may have been the child of the Great Prophecy, and one of the Seven, and the leader of many other successful quests, but he was still—at least _half_—human.

Looking back up at Bob, Nico said, "He can't see you."

Bob frowned. "Yes, I know."

Nico was mortified that Bob had actually agreed with him. Sure, Bob wanted what was best for Percy, but Percy didn't always want what was best for himself. What if Percy found out about Bob being here? Would Percy be angry? Nico didn't want that. Not only would that be an emotional blow, but an angry Percy is extremely terror-inducing, even if Percy didn't realize it.

"I must go," Bob said quietly. "Bob might visit sometime later...when Percy is ready."

Nico knew what Bob meant. He nodded. "Okay. Yes. So, I guess...see you?"

"Yes!" Bob whisper-yelled, smiling again. "I can tell that the time will come."

"Thank you," Nico said, standing up. "Thank you, Bob. You came when we most needed you. If there's any way—"

"You can repay me?" Bob finished. "No. Helping Percy is...Bob is happy to do it."

Nico smiled.

Bob put his hand on Nico's shoulder and said, "Take care of Percy."

And then he vanished.

Nico was frozen, staring at the spot where Bob's face had been. Had that really just happened?

0o0o0o0o0

Nico didn't want Percy to wake up anytime soon. He was afraid he'd act weird around him, and Percy would get suspicious. He didn't have any doubt that Percy would—Percy was more observant than he was given credit for.

When Percy finally woke up the next day, Nico was just walking into the hospital wing after another day of classes.

"Hey. How do you feel?" Nico asked him.

Percy sat up, flexing his arm. He flinched, but said, "Never better."

"Sure." Nico sat down next to Percy's bed. "We have problems."

"Definitely," Percy muttered. "How would we explain this to Madam Pomfrey? And _Harry_? They'll both asked what happened, no doubt."

Nico studied Percy's face for a moment. He _did_ seem much better.

"Oh, and how was I healed? Did Madam Pomfrey..."

Nico nodded without hesitation. He realized he was a little too good at lying. But hey, he'd done it so many times before. "I don't know what she gave you, but I guess this magic potion stuff works better than we thought."

He almost cringed at the lie. If Percy ever found out the truth...he didn't want to think about it.

Percy laughed. "Guess so. Do I get to leave this place?"

"Not sure. Madam Pomfrey is...strict. As for what we tell Harry—I was hoping you'd help me figure that out."

Percy grimaced. "Yeah, well...he saw through the Mist. That's not a good sign. Even if we convince him that it was just a magical creature from the Forbidden Forest, something else is bound to happen. And we won't be able to convince him again."

Nico raised his eyebrows. That made a lot of sense.

"What?" Percy asked. "Stop looking at me like that. I know stuff."

Laughing, Nico said, "Yes, I realized. But I think that talking to him...telling him that it was just some sort of magical monster from the Forest...is really our best and only option."

Percy sighed, and then nodded. "Yeah, I think so. We'll deal with that later."

Nico and Percy sat in silence for a few moments before Madam Pomfrey came in. "Oh, good, you're awake, and...you're sitting up! No, no. Lie back down. Lie back down. Now."

With an irritated look on his face, Percy obeyed. "When do I get to leave?"

"Whenever I say that you can," Madam Pomfrey answered unhelpfully. "Here, drink this potion."

Percy took the cup, looked into it, and gagged silently behind Madam Pomfrey's back. Nico snorted. The son of Poseidon slowly brought the cup to his lips, took a sip, and shuddered, making a disgusted face. He plugged his nose and drank the rest.

Madam Pomfrey turned around just as Percy set the cup down on the table beside his bed. "Thank you. You won't be leaving the hospital wing for at least another day. So, do you mind telling me how you got your..._injury_?"

Nico had been afraid of this. What would they tell her? Well, Percy wasn't an amazing liar, so Nico immediately plunged into the first story he could come up with before Percy could start talking.

"We were walking along the Forbidden Forest..._along_ it, we weren't planning on going into it!" he said, when Madam Pomfrey began to look angry. "Percy told me a...erm...joke, but apparently something in the Forest decided to take my laugh as a challenge and attacked us. I didn't really get a good look at it before Percy got rid of it...did you?" he asked, turning to Percy.

Percy, obviously not trusting his mouth, shook his head mutely, grimacing again.

Madam Pomfrey seemed to accept this story. Nico was relieved. If only convincing Harry of the same thing would prove so easy.

"Well, boys...be more careful. Walking along the Forbidden Forest is dangerous."

"Noticed," Percy muttered.

Madam Pomfrey sighed and turned away. "Sleep, Mr. Jackson. I can tell you need it," she said over her shoulder.

Percy's eyes were getting heavy, though Nico suspected that it was because of the potion the matron had given him.

"Yeah, she's right. Sleep, Percy. When you wake up, I'll either be in the common room, classes, or here. Come find me."

Nodding, Percy said groggily, "Yeah, sure," and immediately fell back asleep.

0o0o0o0o0

Nico wasn't in a very good mood the next day as he sat in the common room, finishing up a stupid essay for his stupid new teacher, Snape. Snape's favoritism of the Slytherins drove Nico crazy, and his constant picking on Neville and Harry made him want to get up and summon some skeletons just to scare him off. Unfortunately, Nico couldn't do that. It would completely blow his cover, which he was already having trouble keeping in the first place.

Harry had been trying to get Nico's attention, but Nico had pretended not to notice and walked away whenever he saw them in the corridors. This was extremely difficult, as all of his classes were with Harry, Ron, and Hermione (except Divination, which Hermione was not in).

Anyway, he had just finished his last sentence on his essay when Percy walked through the portrait hole, looking relieved and irritated. Nico was alone, as everyone else was either outside enjoying the day or in the library, doing work.

Percy looked around, seeming confused. "Where is everyone?"

"Out," Nico said. "Harry and his friends are in the library, if you're wondering."

Sighing, Percy nodded. "Yeah. Have you told him our story? Have you talked to him at all?"

"No," Nico said. "I've sort of been avoiding him. I didn't want to face him until you were here to do it with me."

Percy rolled his eyes. "I'm flattered." He paused. "You seem in a bad mood. What happened?"

Nico realized he had been scowling. He shook his head, wiped the angry expression off of his face, and said, "Oh, it's just a teacher—Snape. I'm pretty sure you've had him."

"Yes." Percy's eyes narrowed as if the memory of Snape was unpleasant, which Nico didn't doubt. "He's..." Not finding anything to say, Percy just shrugged.

"He seems to really hate Harry," Nico said. "Not just in a _'Gryffindors suck!'_ kind of way. It's pure loathing. And trust me, I know what that looks like."

Percy seemed thoughtful. "I know Harry hates Snape back. I've heard Harry, Ron, and Hermione talking about him before. None of it was good."

Nico didn't respond. All of these little pieces that they were discovering about Harry's life...what did they have to do with anything? Why would they be useful? Nico didn't know.

"Has..." Percy hesitated before going on with the sentence. "Has word of this_ injury _gotten to Camp Half-Blood?"

"Do you really think I'm stupid enough to tell them?" Nico asked, laughing. "Annabeth wouldn't be happy about this. She'd be terrified, and then sad (because she's not here), and then really angry at you. Would you want that?"

Percy shook his head. "Thank the gods. So..."

Nico shrugged.

"Yeah. Do you want to head out and—"

"You have a lot of work to do," Nico said. "Fred and George have been collecting it for you. It's on your bed."

Percy groaned. "Do I really—"

"Yes. Now, go. I'll go out and enjoy the sun while you're in your dormitory, struggling to read English. See you later."

Nico laughed at Percy's scowl and walked across the room, climbing out of the portrait hole.

0o0o0o0o0

^Percy

Nico was a smooth liar. Percy knew that. But despite the fact that Nico could manipulate almost anyone he wanted, Percy knew that Nico was lying to him. He didn't know what it was about, or why he would lie for any reason, but it was there.

Lies. Percy hated them. Everyone probably did.

Anyway, he was sitting in his dormitory, staring at the work that he was supposed to do, when Fred and George burst into the room, laughing about some hilarious joke they'd made together.

"Hey, Percy—we need to ask you something," Fred said after catching his breath.

Glad for an excuse to take his eyes away from the parchment in front of him, Percy raised his head and said, "About what?"

George laughed. "I'll never get used to your accent."

"And I'll never get used to yours. Now, what is it?" Percy asked.

Fred hesitated for a second, and then said, "Hermione approached us at lunch today and told us about..." He trailed off, wondering how to phrase his sentence.

"A...sort of...Defense club," George continued. "Because of our terrible teacher we've got for Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Percy nodded. He'd heard the conversation starting this whole thing.

"So...we're inviting you to come and be a part of it. Umbridge isn't teaching us anything, and with this huge war that's coming up..."

"Well, we need to know things," George summed up.

Smiling, Percy said, "I'd really like that. Thanks for inviting me. When—"

"Hogsmeade," Fred said. "We're meeting at the Hog's Head the next time we're in Hogsmeade."

"Can I tell Nico?" Percy asked.

Fred and George both looked confused for a second. Then George said, "Oh, your American friend. Yeah, I guess you can. Just...don't tell anyone else."

"Thanks. I won't."

Both of them nodded and walked back out of the dormitory.

Percy wondered if Hermione had actually invited them to be a part of this, or if it was Fred and George's idea. If Hermione _had_ suggested that Percy join the club, then that would mean that she trusted Percy a whole lot more than he'd originally thought. If it was Fred and George's idea, and then Percy and Nico showed up at the Hog's Head, would Hermione be uspet?

Percy decided not to think about it. He set back to work...or tried to. He didn't understand most of what they did in their classes. Percy wasn't very good at magic, even though Hecate had apparently blessed them with magic on their way to Hogwarts (knowledge courtesy of Dumbledore, who had pulled him aside in the corridor outside of Charms on his first day of classes and told him this). He understood almost nothing about Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, and Potions. The only thing he was remotely good at was care of magical creatures, which was taught by a stern sort of woman named Grubbly-Plank. Percy had gathered that she was only a substitute for some guy named Hagrid.

He threw his quill down on his parchment, grabbed his wand from his bedside table (because he had quickly learned that normal wizards took it everywhere they went), and walked out of the dorm, trying to find Nico.

0o0o0o0o0

**Author's note:** Sorry for the lame ending of this chapter, but the next one will be more interesting.

Have you noticed that a lot of people who write crossovers between HP and PJO are biased? So, if they like Harry Potter better, they make the wizards out to be more powerful. If they like Percy Jackson better, they make the demigods out to be more powerful. I'm trying to refrain from doing that. If it seems like I'm leaning toward PJO at the moment, I'm really not. Percy and Nico just haven't seen the full extent of what wizards can really do.

Please review! I'll feed you blue cookies and treacle tart.


	10. Chapter 10

**DISCLAIMER:** Percy Jackson and Harry Potter characters don't belong to me. They belong to Rick Riordan and J. K. Rowling.

**Author's note:** I'm reading the Kane Chronicles for the first time. They're really good! I hadn't really wanted to read them at first, because...well, I don't really know. But I recommend them.

Yes, I'll be writing other stories. I thought I'd take my account one story at a time, because I'd get distracted with a new one very easily.

Last minute note: My internet shut down again. I would've posted on Wednesday. I checked my laptop literally ten minutes ago, and it was working again. So, I took advantage of this small amount of time I get to enjoy with my WiFi.

0o0o0o0o0

^Ginny (Bet you didn't expect that. Yeah, Ginny's a part of the plot now.)

Ginny didn't know what to think as she followed Fred and George to the Hog's Head. She'd vaguely registered the fact that a group of twenty-seven kids all going in the same direction would look suspicious, but Hogsmeade was uncharacteristically empty around them.

She was right behind the two Americans, Percy and Nico. She'd seen them a lot in the common room, and outside next to the lake, talking. She knew that something was up with them, but that didn't give her the right to get all suspicious. Ron, Harry, and Hermione were already doing that for her.

Hand-in-hand with Michael Corner, she walked into the pub. The bartender's eyes widened at the prospect of having so many people in his bar. She understood why; the place was small and run down and creaky. She didn't get why _anyone_ would want to come in here; maybe they just wanted some peace and quiet.

Fred ordered twenty-seven butterbeers, and then yelled at all of us to pay up. Ginny dug around her pocket and passed the money to the Americans, so that they could pass is forward. The older one—Percy—stared at the coin for a second, and then gave it to the person in front of him.

"Yeah, I don't have any—er—money," Percy muttered, taking Michael's coin and passing it forward, too. He looked like he was about to turn and yell to Fred—probably to cancel his order—but Ginny dug out another coin, and so did Michael.

"There's one for each of you," she said to him, and Percy held up his hand, ready to decline. "No," Ginny interrupted. "Pass it forward."

Percy sighed and thanked Ginny.

They all got settled around a table. Harry wasn't looking very happy, and Hermione was looking slightly guilty and very nervous.

Ginny's eyes drifted away from the table, and she observed the rest of the pub. There were only a few other people. Nothing looked suspicious, so she turned her attention back to Hermione. She somehow knew that Harry was not going to be giving the introduction speech. He seemed in a pretty bad mood and for some reason was blushing furiously. Everyone else, though, was staring at Harry.

"Er," Hermione said, her voice an octave higher than usual. "Well—er—hi."

Ginny internally snorted at the amazing introduction. All eyes turned to Hermione instead, though a lot of people kept turning back to look at Harry.

"We...erm...well, you know why you're here. Erm...well, Harry here had the idea—I mean"—Ginny smiled as Harry threw Hermione a sharp look—"I had the idea—that it might be good if people who wanted to study Defense Against the Dark Arts—and I mean, really study it, you know, not the rubbish Umbridge is doing with us, because nobody could call that Defense Against the Dark Arts—"

"Hear, hear," Anthony Goldstein interrupted, and Hermione's face brightened a considerable amount.

"—well, I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands," she continued. After a slight pause and a sideways glance at Harry, she kept talking. "And by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just theory but the real spells—"

"You want to pass your Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. too though, I bet?" Ginny's boyfriend said, grinning.

"Of course I do," said Hermione as though that was obvious (which it totally was). "But I want more than that, I want to be properly trained in Defense because...because..." Hermione took a deep breath before rushing on, "Because Lord Voldemort's back."

She couldn't help it—Ginny cringed at the name. But looking around the table, she thought everyone's reactions were ridiculous. Marietta Edgecombe managed to slop butterbeer down her front. Yet all of them looked eagerly at Harry. Ginny felt a rush of anger, but before she could say anything, Hermione said, "Well...that's the plan anyway. If you want to join us, we need to decide how we're going to—"

"Where's the proof You-Know-Who's back?" asked Zacharias Smith, the jerk Hufflepuff Quidditch player.

Ginny half-way zoned out to study Harry's face. He was looking angrier and angrier by the second. She wished she could do something about it. Harry's temper always seemed to be bubbling under the surface these days, but whatever Zacharias was saying seemed to be causing it to boil over.

Her attention instantly snapped back to the conversation when Harry spoke for the first time.

"It's okay, Hermione." He paused, looking around at everyone. His harsh gaze settled on Zacharias Smith as he said, "What makes me say You-Know-Who's back? I saw him. But Dumbledore told the whole school what happened last year, and if you don't believe him, you don't believe me, and I'm not wasting an afternoon trying to convince anyone."

Ginny's gaze traveled around the table. She noticed that Nico was smiling faintly, and Percy was studying Harry intently. It was sort of weird, because she had never seen Percy sit still. His fingers or feet were always tapping, or his eyes traveling around him at a fast rate. But now, his arms were crossed and his sea-green eyes were completely still.

She was jerked out of her thoughts when Zacharias continued to talk. "All Dumbledore told us last year was that Cedric Diggory got killed by You-Know-Who and the you brought Diggory's body back to Hogwarts. He didn't give us details, he didn't tell us exactly how Diggory got murdered, I think we'd all like to know—"

Ginny glared at him, but nobody noticed, because both Percy and Harry's tempers rose at the same time. Harry said roughly, "If you've come to hear exactly what it looks like when Voldemort murders someone I can't help you." At the same time, Percy said angrily, "It's not fair to ask him of that! Living through something like that the first time is hard enough—"

They both stopped talking when they realized everyone was staring at Percy. The American shifted in his seat, obviously uncomfortable with all of the attention. He licked his lips and leaned back in his chair, pressing himself against the back as if you want to sink right into it. His friend shot him a small glare, and Percy grimaced.

"How would _you_ know?" Zacharias asked rather rudely.

Percy raised his eyebrows at him, but said nothing except, "I don't. I'm just...inferring."

Ginny didn't really believe it, but it looked like the others were somewhat convinced. Only Harry was still staring curiously at Percy.

The only good thing that came out of Percy's outburst: It awkwardly ended the previous conversation, so nobody was really arguing anymore (although Zacharias Smith was still glaring at Harry).

Hermione cleared her throat. "So...as I was saying, if you want to learn Defense, then we need to work out how we're going to do it, how often we're going to meet, and where we're going to—"

"Is it true that you can produce a Patronus?" Susan Bones interrupted.

Ginny smiled as some people started muttering to each other.

"Yeah," Harry said, his voice sounding slightly defensive.

She moved her head to look at Michael, but something else caught her eye. Percy and Nico were looking confused, and Nico was scribbling something down on a piece of paper with a regular pen, not a quill.

"A corporeal Patronus?" Susan continued.

"Er—you don't know Madam Bones, do you?" Harry asked.

They were interrupted when Nico snorted loudly and shoved Percy's shoulder. Everyone looked over to them again.

Percy looked up as Nico folded his paper. "Don't mind us," Percy said. "Just two stupid Americans making stupid jokes about fast-food restaurants or something."

Everyone at the table laughed.

"So..." said Hermione again. "We all know Harry's pretty qualified to—"

"Yeah," a Ravenclaw sixth year said. "Between all of the tasks in the Triwizard Tournament last year, fighting the dementors this year, and the Stone, Basilisk—"

Harry's face was getting red and there was a strange look in his eyes as his head snapped up.

Unfortunately, Ginny recognized it. Was there something going on between him and that Ravenclaw?

_I don't care_, Ginny thought sternly. So what if Harry had a girlfriend?

"Look," Harry said in a strangled sort of voice. He cleared his throat. "I don't want to...to sound like I'm being modest or anything—"

"But you _are,_" Percy interrupted. "And I get it. Now, aren't we supposed to be—"

"Yes," said Hermione. "Yes. Erm...so, we're all in agreement that we want Harry to teach us?"

Nobody objected. Not even Zacharias Smith.

"Good...now, the first thing we should do is decide how often we meet. It would be stupid to meet less than once a week—"

"Wait," Angelina Johnson said, "we need to make sure this doesn't clash with our Quidditch practice."

"No," Ms. Ravenclaw Sixth Year said, "nor with ours."

"Nor ours," added Zacharias Smith.

"I'm sure we can find a night that suits everyone," Hermione said irritably. "But you know, this is rather important, we're talking about learning to defend ourselves against V-Voldemort's Death Eaters—"

Ginny zoned out as Ernie Macmillan started to say something. Usually, when he started talking, he wouldn't stop for a breath for five minutes straight. Her mind wandered over to Percy and Nico. They did seem kind of suspicious, but she didn't want to go poking around or anything. Just little hints that she'd picked up gave her reason to be curious.

The way Percy had sounded so understanding when he pretty much told Zacharias Smith to back off. Nico used regular pens, and as far as Ginny knew, everyone in the wizarding world still used quills and parchment.

Ginny looked back at Hermione, a little late. She had no idea what was going on, unfortunately, but Hermione and Luna were arguing about something.

"_Hem, hem,"_ she said, speaking for the first time since sitting down. Quite a few people looked around in alarm, and then laughed. "Weren't we trying to decide how often we're going to meet and get Defense lessons?"

"Yes," Hermione said abruptly, "yes, we were, you're right..."

"Well, once a week sounds cool," Lee Jordan said.

"As long as—"

"Yes, yes, we know about the Quidditch," Hermione said tersely. "The other thing to decide is where we're going to meet..."

Silence. Ginny didn't really know where they could meet for something like this without getting caught easily. The library? No. Hogsmeade? No. Ginny knew there were a hundred secret rooms and passageways at Hogwarts, but she didn't know where any of them were, or how to make them work. If _anyone_ knew that, it would be Fred and George.

"Library?" Katie Bell suggested timidly.

"I can't see Madam Pince being too chuffed with us doing jinxes in the library," Harry said.

"Erm...an unused classroom?" said Dean.

Harry made a face as Ron said, "Yeah, McGonagall might let us have hers, she did when Harry was practicing for the Triwizard..." Ron trailed off.

After a few moments of quiet, Hermione said, "Right, well, we'll try to find somewhere. We'll send a message round when we've got a time and place for the first meeting."

She dug around in her bag for a second, and then pulled out parchment and a quill. She seemed embarrassed and hesitant. After taking a deep breath, she said, "I-I think everyone should write their name down, just so we know who was here. But I also think that we all ought to agree not to shout about what we're doing. So if you sign, you're agreeing not to tell Umbridge—or anybody else—what we're up to."

Ginny was more than eager to write her name proudly on the list, and she watched as Fred happily took the quill and scribbled his name down. But she noticed that a lot of people didn't look very cheerful about this.

She decided to ignore it. Ginny took the list from Fred, wrote her name down, and passed it to Michael. He signed it and then handed it to George, who tried to hand it to Zacharias Smith. Ginny ignored him as he burst out about it and stood up, leaving with Michael at her side.

After thinking for a few moments, Ginny said to Michael, "Have you noticed anything odd about the Americans?"

"Other than their sense of humor and their accents? Not really. Though it is weird that they were a week late to school."

Ginny nodded. "Yeah, it is."

But she wouldn't snoop. For now.

0o0o0o0o0

^Percy

Percy walked out of the Hog's Head, feeling embarrassed.

And, unfortunately, they'd have to go to the library and find out what all of these things were. Nico had added quite a few things to the list.

"What do you think?" Nico asked.

"I dunno," said Percy hesitantly.

"You and Harry are a lot alike," Nico said nonchalantly.

Percy furrowed his brows. "You mean...we look alike, or..."

"Well, you do kind of look alike, but that's not what I'm talking about. You're both too modest, loyal, selfless...typical superhero traits. You're both somewhat reluctant leaders."

Percy pressed his lips together and rubbed the back of his neck. He tried to find some way to respond to that, but he failed.

"Well, I guess we're going to the library, huh?" Nico said, changing the subject. "We've got some work to do."

Yes, they did.

But, for some reason, Percy was reluctant. Something was prickling at the back of his neck, and he had a bad feeling.

And usually, Percy's bad feelings ended up getting him in trouble.

He followed Nico uneasily back to the castle.

0o0o0o0o0

Author's note: The scenes from the actual book will get more and more different as the story goes on. Percy and Nico will get more involved, and the Golden Trio will get more nosy.

Review! They're appreciated.


	11. Chapter 11

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter. Rick Riordan and J. K. Rowling do.

**Author's note:** No school today (Thursday), so I wrote! You're welcome. The last chapter was (sort of) boring and I didn't get very many reviews (which disheartened me). This one is a bit more interesting.

Update on my life: I searched a movie yesterday on the internet, and clicked the wrong link. My computer got infected, and I was stuck without my laptop for a whole sixteen hours (I know, tragic, right?). But hey, it's fixed now.

Also, **I NEED MORE FANFICTION TO READ!** Please leave story suggestions for Percy Jackson or Harry Potter (or both!) stories. Mortal Instruments are okay, too, as long as they're crossed over with PJ or HP. 3

0o0o0o0o0

^Harry

As soon as the three of them got back to Hogwarts, Harry, Ron, and Hermione made a beeline for the library so that they could talk.

Once they were settled down at a table, Harry spoke to his two friends in a whisper. "We need to figure out Percy and Nico. The curiosity is burning my insides."

True, it was. Harry had been so freaking curious ever since Percy had stood up for him while Zacharias Smith was trying to bully the truth out of him that it was almost physical pain. Harry _really _didn't want to admit it to himself, but he was more suspicious than he would like to be. Ever since he had fully seen Percy's weird SPQR tattoo on his forearm, Harry promised himself that he wouldn't snoop around until he had a reasonable excuse for doing it. Yeah, that time hadn't come yet. The only sort of proof Harry had was the fact that Nico was _god-awful_ at almost _everything_ and Percy's vague words that hinted at _something_, but then again _didn't_.

Hermione nodded, understanding. "Yes, I know. I think...I think we should get close to them, now. We should pretend to trust them so that we can learn their secrets. I really want to know what's up with them."

Harry smiled. He knew that Hermione _hated _not knowing things.

Ron said, "Wouldn't it be kind of..._rude_...to _pretend_ to trust them just to figure out their secrets?"

Hermione grimaced as Harry said, "Yeah. Maybe their secrets aren't bad, though. Maybe we won't end up having to pretend. But, really, there's only one way to find out."

All three of them sighed. Harry mentally re-added the Americans to his not-so small list of problems he needed to put right. Between Cho, Umbridge, the missing Hagrid, the Americans, and the small matter of _Lord Voldemort,_ Harry _kind of_ had a lot going on.

"You're right," Harry said. He inwardly hated being nosy in such a blatant way. Percy was smarter than he looked, and Nico was extremely intelligent (just not in all things magical).

They would figure out what was up with them, just like he had told Percy and Nico when they had spied on him in the common room.

If Harry, Ron, and Hermione were good at anything, it was being nosy.

0o0o0o0o0

Meanwhile, nine aisles further into the library, Nico and Percy were discussing their quest while simultaneously looking up terms that Nico had written down.

^Percy

"Nico?" Percy asked.

"Hmm?" said boy responded.

Percy hesitated before continuing and watched as Nico flipped through a book of Dark Creatures. They had both decided that a dementor definitely sounded like some sort of evil being. After a few heartbeats, he continued, "Do _really_ think this quest is impossible?"

Yeah, he'd been thinking about it a lot. Why would the gods—or _Chiron_—give them a quest that wasn't supposed to be doable? Why would they hand Percy and Nico over to some school for a year for a quest that was bound to fail? There was only one answer that Percy could think of: _It's not impossible_. It couldn't be. There had to be some way to get this mission right.

Nico sighed and stopped flipping through pages. After pretending to examine a paragraph, he finally said, "I don't really know, Percy. I feel that us being here is rash and unpredictable. Our worlds had to have been kept apart for a reason. On top of that: Sending us here for an impossible quest doesn't make sense. The gods _have_ to have a good excuse for bringing our worlds together. It _shouldn't_ be possible, but it _has_ to be."

Percy nodded. He'd gotten that feeling before—that he shouldn't be here, that he didn't belong, and that he should leave right away. So far, he'd been pretty good about ignoring it. But obviously, wizards were powerful and dangerous, even to demigods.

"Yep." Percy pulled a book from a bookshelf and stared at it for a second. He hated reading things that weren't in Ancient Greek. Greek came to him so much easier than English. Unfortunately, in the modern world, Ancient Greek was pretty much a dead language. You don't just find books written in Greek lying around in book stores or libraries.

Cursing his ADHD thoughts, Percy decided to change the subject. "Find anything on dementors?"

"Actually, yes," Nico said, surprising Percy.

Percy quickly walked over to Nico, but he didn't bother trying to read the book opened in front of him. "What does it say?"

"Dementors are some of the darkest creatures in the wizarding world," Nico muttered, sounding (for some reason) in awe. "They feed on happiness until all their victim is left with is their worst memories. If you let them get close enough, or if they're angry enough, they kiss you."

"Why would a dementor want to kiss you?" Percy asked, confused.

"It's not a real _kiss_. They suck out your soul through your mouth."

Percy's stomach dropped. "That sounds...awful."

No snorted at Percy's lame wording. "No kidding," Nico said. "You should see some of the other creatures in this—"

"Anything about fighting them?" Percy interrupted, avoiding Nico's own ADHD path.

Nico focused again. "Yeah. That's what Patronuses are for."

Percy thought for a second. While they were in the Hog's Head, everyone at the table had seem surprised by the fact that Harry was able to...do this..._Patronus_ thing. "Is it supposed to be hard or something?"

"Extremely," Nico confirmed. "It says here that most adult wizards can't do it."

_Wow_, Percy thought. Harry sounded impressive, from the way people talked about him (although he'd seen and heard a lot about him being completely mental). Having proof like this in front of him made it seem more real, not just rumors.

"Wow," Percy said out loud.

"Yeah," Nico said quietly. "Wow."

"Okay...anything else?" Percy asked.

"We'll come back later. It took longer than I thought it would to find dementors in this place. Figuring out who Fox is and seeing if basilisks are the same as they are in the Greek/Roman world...that could take a while. I need to get back to the common room and sleep."

Percy didn't object. He needed some more sleep, himself. Guess it was just a demigodly habit. Sleep = Dreams. Dreams = Nightmares. Nightmares = Bad.

"Yeah. Me, too, I guess. Let's head back."

Nico closed the book and put it back on the shelf. He and Percy headed toward the exit—until someone literally ran into Percy from his left.

It was Hermione. She seemed shocked and bewlidered for a second before gathering her thoughts and pushing away from him, her cheeks tinged pink. Harry looked like his usual self (messy-haired, green-eyed, weary, tired, just a little undercurrent of anger). Ron looked irritated, but for what reason, Percy didn't know.

"Erm, hi," Percy said. "We were just heading back to the common room."

"We were, too," Harry said.

Awkward silence.

"Erm, cool," Percy responded at last. "So..."

"Yeah," Hermione said.

They all turned toward the exit and started walking together.

After a few minutes of walking in extremely uncomfortable silence, Hermione said, "So...erm, tell us about yourselves."

Percy was caught off guard. What would they possibly want to know? And why? Unless...

"Like what?" Nico asked.

"I dunno...where you're from, your birthday, favorite color, whatever you want."

The sudden demand was definitely weird, Percy decided. But wouldn't it be suspicious to seem evasive?

"Well, I grew up in New York," Percy started. "I constantly changed schools. My dad had been lost at sea for almost my whole life—I didn't meet him until I was twelve. My mom is mor—she's a Muggle," he quickly corrected. "I didn't start learning magic until twelve. As for the others, my birthday is August eighteenth and my favorite color is blue."

Ron laughed and asked, "Why would you constantly change schools if you grew up in New Pork?"

Percy snorted. "York. New York. And...I always got suspended. I have this special talent for making people angry. I used to have a short temper. And...odd things always happened around me."

Harry nodded. "I got in a lot of trouble because of wandless magic when I was younger."

Ron laughed aloud. "You mean like your aunt?"

Harry shook his head. "Not what I meant, but yes. I didn't get in trouble for that, did I? Fudge was still worried about Sirius coming after me."

Percy and Nico both froze. The three wizards where four steps ahead of them before they noticed that the Americans weren't at their sides anymore.

"Sirius Black?" Nico asked.

Harry turned and said (quite defensively), "Yeah. Why?"

"I—nothing," Nico said. He and Percy started forward again, but nothing without exchanging a significant look first. They followed the confused (and, unbeknownst to them, _extremely_ suspicious) wizards back to the common room without saying another word.

0o0o0o0o0

^Harry

"He's lying."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting at the base of the staircase leading into the boys' dormitories. The common room had emptied about ten minutes before, the last to leave being Fred and George.

Harry hesitated. "I don't know. I think he's lying, too. Just...I also feel like he's telling the truth."

"That makes no sense," Ron responded.

"Actually, I kind of feel the same way," Hermione said. "I think he's...I don't know.._.stretching_ the truth."

Yeah, that was exactly it. Percy wasn't a good liar, and Harry could tell. He shifted uncomfortably when he lied, and his eyes moved restlessly. But Percy hadn't been acting like that when he told the three of them his story. Most of it seemed to be true. But something seemed off.

"We'll figure it out," Hermione promised. "We should get to bed."

"Yeah. Okay. See you in the morning," Harry told her.

"Good night," Ron said.

"'Night," Hermione muttered as she stood, yawning.

Harry made his way up the staircase with Ron at his side. Once they were inside, Harry and Ron both changed into pajamas.

"'Night, mate," Ron said.

"'Night."

And Harry slept.

After what felt like mere minutes to Harry, he woke up in cold sweat. His dreams about corridors and locked doors had been getting more frequent, recently, and it really bothered him. Harry looked around and realized that the sun was already up, and Ron was changing into his robes. They were the only two in the dorm.

Harry groaned and stretched. It was Sunday. And despite his dreams, he felt strangely cheerful. He knew he had a lot of homework to catch up on (How had he and Ron both fallen so far behind again?).

He sat up as his stomach growled.

"Hungry?" Ron asked.

Harry snorted. Ron knew the answer to that question. He stoop up, took some clothes out of his trunk, and changed out of his pajamas.

Harry and Ron chatted idly as they made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast. Harry appreciated the fact that Ron didn't try to talk about anything serious—he'd had enough of that already. His problems were nearing countless; Harry liked the reminder that he was still human, still able to smile and laugh like the rest of his friends and not worry about anything but his homework.

His stomach growled again as he sat down. The food looked amazing, as always. He loaded his plate with eggs, bacon, and toast, poured a glass of milk, and started devouring it all. The only person at the Gryffindor table eating faster than him was Ron.

They were both interrupted when Fred and George came over and sat down across from them. The look on their faces told Harry that they'd seen something interesting. They both had a...sort of..._calculating_ look on their faces, like they were trying to solve a puzzle that they hadn't been able to figure out for hours.

"Hey," George said, grabbing a piece of toast and spreading marmalade on it.

"We've got something to tell you," said Fred.

"We figured, if _anyone_ is snooping around about the Americans—"

"—it would be the three of you," Fred finished. "And we've found something odd."

Harry internally snorted at their introduction. The way they made it sound, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were nosy, inconsiderate idiots who snooped around everyone's business.

"Well, tell us," Ron said impatiently.

"Okay." George leaned in closer. "Percy...he doesn't sleep right. Fred and I were on our way back up to the dormitories from the kitchens last night, and when we walked in—"

"—Percy was talking. He was tossing and turning in his sleep, murmuring a girl's name. What was it again, George?"

"Annabeth," George supplied.

"Yes, Annabeth," Fred said. "We don't know who that is, obviously, but it could mean something."

"Everyone in their right minds is at least a _little_ suspicious of them," George said. "Even Ginny is. We caught her talking to Michael Corner about it in Zonko's."

Ron's eyes flashed in irritation at the mention of Michael Corner. Fred and George's faces turned thouhtful.

"What's going on between the two of them, anyway?" George continued. "We've seen them together—"

"—countless times," Fred interrupted. "Do you think they're—"

"They are," Hermione said, and then she quickly changed the subject. She turned to Harry and Ron and blurted, "You two have a lot of homework, don't you? You should get started."

Harry sighed. The conversation had been interesting until it turned to Ginny. Percy didn't sleep right? Maybe he had nightmares, sort of like Harry. And this girl: Annabeth? If Percy was tossing and turning in his sleep while saying her name, that must have meant she was on Percy's bad side. Of course, there was the slim chance that they were overreacting to some stupid dream, but it was highly unlikely. Everything they found out about Percy or Nico was a step closer to figuring them out.

Harry shuddered at the phrasing of his thoughts. _Figure them out? _Was that _all_ the Americans were to him? Some math problem that needed to be solved?

No, Harry would befriend them, because so far, they didn't deserve to be shunned and spied on like some sort of rat lab. So far, they hadn't done anything wrong.

"C'mon," Hermione said. She stood up, and Harry and Ron followed.

After a few minutes of walking toward Gryffindor Tower, Harry said, "What do you think?"

"Of Percy's dreams?" Ron asked. "Sounds kind of like you, except you don't talk," he continued, looking at Harry.

"Exactly," Hermione said. "Harry has nightmares, too. Bad dreams don't make people suspicious."

Harry felt his temper flash a little. _Harry has nightmares, too._ He _knew_ that they were more than nightmares—they were something like clues. His curiosity bubbled inside of him. He _had_ to know what was on the other side of that door.

He pushed his thoughts down and said, "But think of _why_ I have nightmares. It's my weird connection to Voldemort. Maybe Percy has nightmares for some similar reason. It's worth looking into."

"Yes," Hermione said. "I know. And that we'll do."

Harry had no doubt, now. Nobody slept that badly without having a seriously good reason.

They would have to find out who this _Annabeth_ was. Soon.

Hermione took a deep breath as they approached the portrait hole. She turned to both Harry and Ron with a stern look on her face.

"But first, you need to get your work done. I won't let your grades fall just because the Americans have caught your interests. It's nice outside; grab your things and we'll go out by the lake to work."

Harry sighed. His Sunday was getting worse. And, it was _Sunday_. He definitely was not looking forward to the next day. He did not want to have to deal with both Snape and Umbridge. If he never saw either of them again, it would have been too soon.

0o0o0o0o0

**Author's note**: Maybe kinda-sorta boring-ish chapter. I had fun writing it, though. So, here you go.

Just to let you know: It might bother some of you, but I'm trying to keep generally the same story line as in the books. I hate it when people write crossovers that happen during one of the books, and then completely forget about what was actually supposed to be happening in that world. Yes, things will start getting more and more different, as I've said before.

Please leave a review! You're all amazing. Reviews usually motivate me to keep writing, just like they do for anyone else. Ta! Review!


	12. Chapter 12

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter. Rick Riordan and J. K. Rowling do.

**Author's note:** epikness101: You ask why not Percy and Nico and Jason? I sincerely don't want to hurt your feelings or anything like that, but I've always irrationally _hated_ Jason. With a strong passion. Sorry about that. You most likely won't be finding him in this story, or any of my other ones. He might be mentioned, but no big roles. I really don't want to accidentally slip into Jason-bashing and offend people who are in love with him.

This is an exciting chapter, just to let you know. I had fun writing it.

Also, just wanted to add, I'm sorry for the wait. I was writing a story for my seventh-grade English teacher, so I didn't find time to write any fanfiction until Friday the Thirteenth. But on the bright side, my teacher loved it! So, anyway, I decided to write a long chapter to make it up to you.

0o0o0o0o0

^Nico

"_Going after him?_" Percy said incredulously. "Why would we want to—I mean—it's just—_going after him_?"

Nico was nearly as bewildered as Percy was. Their quest largely involved this _Sirius Black_ person. He had no idea that he was somehow involved with Harry Potter, though he should have guessed. _Of course _the two parts of their quest would be connected; it would be extremely odd if they weren't.

But the revelation of the fact that Sirius Black had once _gone after_ Harry was shocking.

"We still have to figure out who he is," Nico said queitly, "and why he's so important."

Percy huffed and ran a hand through his hair. "Whatever's going to happen with this Sirius Black person, I have a feeling that it's not soon. But you're right. Obviously, Harry, Ron, and Hermione know him or know a lot _about_ him. Something about the way he said it..._Fudge was still worried about Sirius coming after me_. He said it like it was some sort of joke. If we want to know, maybe we should just...ask."

Nico stared at the son of Poseidon. Percy had always acted stupid and said weird jokes at the wrong times, not letting on that he was actually really smart underneath all of the teenaged-boyishness. It never failed to surprise him when Percy let his guard down and actually said something extremely intelligent. The only times he'd ever seen Percy so serious were while he was in battle.

"Er—" Nico struggled to form and coherent sentence. After a few seconds, he managed. "You're right. Instead of nosing around, we should ask. Maybe that will get us farther than long hours in the library and hiding in shadows to overhear conversations like inconsiderate idiots."

Nodding, Percy said, "Right."

They stared at each other. They were both standing inside the bathroom in the fifth-year dorm, speaking in whispers. It was dark, but that didn't bother Nico. He could still see fine. Percy's face turned from determined to a grimace.

Nico knew why. "You should get to the seventh-year dorm before the others come in. Get some sleep. Good luck."

Percy sighed. Nico knew that he didn't want to rest, and for good reason. Nico was good at controlling his dreams, and Percy wasn't.

"Yeah, I'll...get to bed. See you in the morning."

Percy silently opened the door and walked out. Nico didn't know why, but he stood frozen, still in the bathroom. He watched the demigod's retreating back until the door was closed behind him, and then finally made his way over to his bed.

In his head, he distantly heard his mother whispering to him, _Sweet dreams, bambino_.

And then, a lot closer, the Fates laughed in his face.

0o0o0o0o0

When he woke up next morning, Nico wasn't very happy. He had a bad feeling, and he immediately placed it. Without hesitation, he stood up, grabbed his robes, and made his way up to the seventh-year dormitory. Once he was right in front of the door, he opened it quietly and made his way in. Everyone in the room was still sleeping, including Percy. But Percy's eyebrows were furrowed, and he was shivering. He looked nowhere close to happy.

Nico walked briskly over and shoved at Percy's shoulder.

He didn't wake.

Nico tried again.

Percy still didn't wake.

Nico shook his head. After a few seconds, he found a glass of still-cold water from George's bedside table and dumped it on Percy's face.

Percy immediately sat up, gasping. He took in his surroundings, and then let out a sigh of relief. He looked straight at Nico and said, "Thank you." He then willed himself dry.

"Not a problem," Nico said. "Are you okay?"

Percy's eyes darkened. Nico could have sworn his irises turned a darker shade of green. After a heartbeat, Percy said, "I'm fine. What time is it?"

"I don't know," Nico said. He looked around. The window curtains were shut, but there was orange-pink light seeping in through the crack in the drapes. "Dawn, it looks like."

"Ugh," Percy said quietly. "Yeah, okay. So..."

They stared at each other.

"The lake?" they said simultaneously.

Laughing, they both made their way down the staircase and into the common room.

Nico looked around. Everything was donned in Gryffindor colors—scarlet and gold. Squashy arm chairs next to a warm fire. Tables lit by candles sitting off in corners. Belongings strewn around here and there. Moving pictures on the walls. Orange light coming in through the windows.

It was peaceful.

Nico sensed what was coming, and so did everybody else, no matter how hard they tried to deny it.

A war was coming.

It was nice to know that this place was still warm and cozy. It would stay sane. It would bring comfort to those who needed it. They would meet their friends and sit by the fire. They would talk. They would laugh. They would scribble in journals. They would draw on some parchment. They would drink tea. They would do something that made them happy.

The place was a save haven, Nico decided, as he made his way out of the portrait hole.

He would go back there for peace. Warmth.

"What are you thinking?" Percy asked, staring at Nico.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing."

Percy raised an eyebrow but didn't say any more.

They made their way out of the front doors of the castle to head over to the lake. Nobody was outside, yet, which was good. As far as he knew, complete privacy.

"We have classes again today," Percy commented as he sat down on the grass. He leaned back to lie on the green, and closed his eyes.

"I know," Nico said. "I don't like a lot of the teachers."

"Like who?" Percy asked.

"Umrbidge," Nico said immediately.

Percy laughed. "_Nobody_ likes her."

"I noticed," Nico said dryly. "Binns. Trelawney. Snape."

"I don't like Snape either," Percy said. "He favors the Slytherins like crazy."

Nico nodded. He'd told Percy about Snape and Harry before, but for some reason, it bothered him. Maybe it was because it was so unfair, but what in the world _was_ fair? Nico had been lured into Tartarus and captured almost instantly, and then held captive, suffocating and half-dead, in a sealed jar for a week. Bianca had died when he was ten. He was the son of Hades, and he was gay. He was an outcast—marked in everybody's mind as that creepy, dark kid who always hid in the shadows.

And Nico didn't even want to _think _of all of Percy's problems.

"Who's Trelawney?" Percy asked after a while.

"Divination teacher," Nico said, grimacing.

"Divination...like, prophecies?"

Nico looked over to Percy. He looked annoyed by the prospect.

He nodded.

Percy opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly, there was a huge crash coming from inside the Great Hall. Nico and Percy whipped their heads around to looked toward the castle, but everything looked as normal as usual—at least on the outside.

On the inside, Nico guessed, was a whole different story.

Percy immediately stood up and ran toward the school, and Nico followed. After a few moments, they had both burst through the front doors to find a horrible scene. The son of Hades pulled up short, his mind reeling into a sudden flashback.

Everything swirled around him, and the scene surrounding him changed before his eyes. He was suddenly standing in a room at Westover Hall with Bianca, Percy standing in front of him, speaking with defiance and bravery in his voice. He was standing on a cliff, terrified of what was standing in front of him and whispering, "I'm scared." He listened as Dr. Thorn said impossible things about Percy. Son of the sea? What did that mean? Why would Percy jump off the cliff? That was a terrible sort of suicide. He inched closer to his sister...Bianca...

"Nico!" Percy said in a hoarse whisper. "Snap out of it!"

Nico shook his head and focused on what was happening at present.

Dr. Thorn was standing in the middle of the corridor, his dangerous tail in full view, screaming, "WHERE IS THE SEA SPAWN? TELL ME!" over and over again. He was holding a Ravenclaw fourth year captive.

Nico had no idea what to do. Alert Thorn of Percy's whereabouts so that he'd give up the Ravenclaw? Go himself? Scream back? Fight?

He turned to Percy, but at the same time, Percy turned to him, looking shocked.

"What do we do?" they both hissed to each other.

Nico clenched his fists, and then said, "I don't know."

"Fine. We'll wing it. Just...keep everyone safe."

If Nico hadn't been so worried, he'd have laughed at the fact that despite everything that had happened to him, Percy was always unintentionally being a hero.

Nico and Percy ran forward. Dr. Thorn was in the middle of screaming, "I KNOW HE'S HERE! I CAN SMELL HIM!" when he finally noticed the two of them approaching. Thorn immediately dropped the blonde fourth-year and turned to face the demigods. She quickly turned around and ran from the Entrance Hall.

The was a small pause, and then Percy said, "What do you want?"

He had his pen out, but it wasn't uncapped yet. Nico's left hand was over his right, twisting his skull ring, ready to pull it off. A while ago, Hades had enchanted it so that it would turn into his sword when he took it off his finger, so that he didn't have to walk around with it strapped to his belt.

"I KNOW YOU'RE RESPONSIBLE!" Thorn yelled at Percy.

The look on Percy's face indicated that he had no idea what Thorn was talking about.

"Erm...responsible for what?" Percy asked.

"You wretched little..." Thorn cut off before continuing. "Hades is in a RAGE at me! Iapetus left the palace wasn't supposed to—I was supposed to be watching over him!"

For a second, Nico was confused. His father was in a rage? Nico thought he would have been able to sense that sort of thing, but apparently not.

Thorn's rage overtook him again. Suddenly, a thorn-spike-arrow thing came hurtling toward Percy. But luckily, Percy was faster than he'd been when Nico was ten. He uncapped his sword and blocked it before it could bury itself in his abdomen.

"Why would you come _here_?" Percy asked. "I haven't seen Bob since..."

Nico felt dread starting to settle itself in the pit of his stomach. Percy was going to find out about Bob. He couldn't...

"WHERE ELSE WOULD HE GO?" Thorn screamed.

Percy narrowed his eyes, but didn't say anything. Nico knew what was on his mind: Annabeth.

Nico was silent. His face portrayed nothing, but he was getting extremely nervous.

"We have no idea what you're talking about," Nico said in a steady voice. Or, he thought it was steady. He began to have doubts when Percy looked over to him curiously.

But right as Percy glanced over, Thorn sent another poisoned thorn-spike-arrow thing at him. Nico immediately moved to block it from Percy, taking of his ring and feeling morph into his Stygian Iron sword. The thorn-spike-arrow clanged against the sword and fell to the floor.

"WHERE IS IAPETUS?" Thorn continued. "I KNOW HE WAS HERE! I CAN SMELL HIM!"

"You...you can _what_?" Percy asked, somewhat weakly. Even though his voice was quiet and confused, his stance never changed. He held his sword strongly in front of him, never wavering.

So did Nico, despite the tidal wave of emotions washing though him at the moment.

"Iapetus was here!" Thorn repeated. His voice was less violent, but his eyes still exposed his rage. "Where did he go? His essence is all over you!" He pointed at Percy.

"That's impossible," Percy said. "I haven't seen him since..." He cut off again, and then moved on. "You've got it wrong."

Thorn narrowed his eyes dangerously. "You dare..." He made an irritated sound. "I am never wrong. I can sense him; I can smell him; you're his friend; all the evidence points to you. How can you tell me I'm wrong?"

"Because you are!" Percy said. "I think I would know..."

Thorn made a sort of growling noise, and then screamed in rage. He sent another thorn-spike-arrow toward Percy, but this time, Percy seemed to have been too deep in his thoughts. Nico wasn't fast enough to block him again, and Percy realized only too late that it was hurtling toward him. He made a last-second attempt to block it, but it whizzed right above his sword and planted itself in Percy's right bicep.

Percy stumbled back and closed his eyes for a second, and then switched his sword to his left hand. He gritted his teeth.

"TELL ME WHERE HE IS!"

Thorn started walking toward the two of them. Percy immediately scanned his surroundings (probably for some water-source to explode), but he didn't seem to find anything. So he looked forward and tensed, readying himself for a fight.

Nico raised his sword a little bit higher and watched closely as Thorn walked toward them. He looked a bit weaker than usual, though that didn't really mean anything. That was like saying a bear that was attacking you happened to have a flea that was irritating him. Nothing you can really use to your advantage if your opponent is still fifty times stronger than yourself.

Thorn sent four more thorn-spike-arrows their way, but Percy and Nico both ducked. Nico felt one of them graze his left forearm, and pain exploded throughout his left side. He felt his fury mount, and then he and Percy both charged. Thorn was fast, but against the two of them, he had no chance. After about thirty seconds, Nico and Percy had sliced through him with their swords at the exact same time, and he disintegrated.

Nico looked down at his arm, which was turning an odd color.

"This," he said, pointing to his wound, "is exactly what happened to you on that first day."

Percy stared at it, and then nodded. "I guess it is. Gods, we were so young back then, weren't we? I was...fourteen? Thirteen?"

"Get over yourself," Nico said, grinning. "I was still _ten_!"

They both laughed.

Percy looked down at his own arm. "Guess we should get that out, huh? I have some nectar and ambrosia in the dormitory..."

He trailed off as he looked up. Nico immediately turned around.

They had a small audience. Two students, two teachers, and the Headmaster.

Oh, and a ghost. Nico looked at it for a second, and the ghost quickly turned around and left the scene.

Two students: Fred and George, from Percy's dorm. Two teachers: McGonagall and Umbridge.

_Great_, Nico thought. Nothing else. _Just great_.

Almost all of them spoke at once.

"What in the name of Merlin was that?" Fred and George said together.

"You're hurt," Dumbledore said gently.

"Care to explain?" McGonagall asked.

Only Umbridge remained silent. She was studying Nico and Percy as if trying to make up her mind about something.

Dumbledore started walking toward Nico and Percy, and they instinctively backed up a little bit. But the old Headmaster ignored them and bent down a little bit to whisper, so that only the two of them could hear, "I trust you can heal yourselves?"

Nico looked at Percy, and they both nodded.

"Good. Now, I suggest that you both leave, before you get into any trouble—"

But Dumbledore was cut off by an awful, girlish voice that Nico instantly knew was Umbridge's.

"How many times has this happened at this school? Two, now?" Umbridge said, her head tilted to the side. "It seems that the two of you attract lots of trouble," she continued in that sickly sweet tone. "Obviously, you two are a danger to this school—"

"Now, Dolores," McGonagall interrupted, "there are other students at this school who are magnets for trouble, too. Do you see yourself kicking them out?"

"I'd like to," Umbridge replied a bit harshly. Then her tone returned to how it was before. "Either way, you two are in loads of trouble. Students are not permitted to leave the grounds during—"

"That is _completely_ false," George interrupted.

"Yeah, these Americans just needed some air before they started their classes again—"

"You haven't banned us from leaving the castle, if that's what you're implying..."

"_Yet_," Fred added under his breath. George rolled his eyes, nodding.

"Shouldn't we get these two to the hospital wing?" McGonagall said before Umbridge could reply to the twins.

Nico looked down at his arm again. The burning had gotten worse. Percy was having a hard time keeping his face straight, and his breathing was getting faster, despite his obvious attempts at trying to control it.

"No, we can take care of it," Nico said while slowly backing up. "I'll just get back to the common room—"

Umrbidge looked furious, and suspicious. Nico took this as a sign to leave immediately, so he grabbed Percy's good arm (Riptide was now in pen form, back in his pocket) and said, "Sorry, but we need to go and get ready for classes. Bye!"

Percy followed him to the common room. The common room was filled with people, talking and arguing over something on the notice board. Ignoring them, they quickly climbed the stairs and went to the seventh-year dorm instead of the fifth, because Nico hadn't spotted Harry or Ron anywhere in the common room—which meant they'd still be in their dorm.

They opened the door quietly. Lee Jordan wasn't in the common room, thankfully, so neither of them bothered being quiet or secretive after that. Percy knelt down and pulled his backpack out from under the bed, unzipped it, and produced a plastic-bag of ambrosia and a canteen of nectar.

Nico helped Percy get the thorn-spike-arrow out of his arm, and then they both drank a little bit of nectar and ate a square of ambrosia. Nico instantly felt better, and he moved his arm around a bit to loosen the muscles.

After a few minutes of silence, Percy said, "Do you think...do you think Bob was really here?"

Great. Nico had been dreading answering this question.

He paused. After a full ten seconds, he said, "Maybe. If Thorn could sense him, then he probably was here."

Percy looked up. He narrowed his eyes and said, "You're lying."

Nico's mind went into panic-mode. How did he figure that out so quickly?

"No, I'm not."

Percy shook his head. "I can tell you're lying. Is that...did you...how did I _really_ get healed when the Keres attacked us again?"

Gods, Percy figured that out a little too fast. His girlfriend had been rubbing off on him.

Nico felt his face fall. Percy noticed.

"What aren't you telling me? Was Bob...did he...he was the one who healed me, wasn't he?" Percy asked, his voice shaking a little.

Slowly, Nico nodded. He was waiting for Percy to explode.

The son of Poseidon's eyes were wide, and his breathing was getting faster and faster. He looked lost in his own memories, and his his gaze clouded over. Different expressions crossed over his face that Nico couldn't recognize, but then settled on one that Nico knew: Guilt.

Percy suddenly had no intention of yelling or getting angry. He looked close to an emotional breakdown. He took a few deep breaths, his face screwed up, and then said, "I get it."

"Get what?" Nico asked without thinking.

"Why you didn't tell me. You knew this would happen..."

Nico silently thanked the gods for Percy's mood-swing. He realized that Percy had changed. Maybe Nico didn't know Percy as well as he thought he did.

After a long, awkward silence where Percy mentally bashed on himself and Nico stared at him while he did it, Nico finally said, "We should get ready for classes..."

"Yeah," Percy said, his voice lower than usual. "Yeah, sure."

Nico left Percy sitting on his bed.

He became lost in thought as he made his way down to the fifth-year dorm. When he opened the door, Harry and Ron were about to leave, talking about Quidditch. Nico greeted them and watched as they closed the door behind them.

And Nico, after so much thinking, had come to a silent conclusion. After his classes were over for the day, he needed to contact Will.

0o0o0o0o0

**Author's note:** I LOVE YOU ALL!

This was a fun chapter to write. It took some time, but I managed to end it. pLeAsE REVIEW! Tell me what you think.

Also, I need more fanfiction to read...again. I REALLY like time-travel fanfics...you know..the ones where Harry goes back in time and meets the Marauders and stuff. I've read a few of them. To my reviewers from last chapter: THANKS for the suggestions!

Thanks, and review. 3


	13. Chapter 13

**DISCLAIMER: **The Harry Potter and Percy Jackson series DO NOT belong to me. They belong respectively to J. K. Rowling and Rick Riordan.

**Author's note:** Last chapter was great. I can feel my story slowly deteriorating...getting less reviews, views...but oddly, I don't really care. So, I just wanted to thank the readers who have started and read all the way to what I currently have. Thank you for being patient, and thank you for appreciating my work. I appreciate you just as much.

0o0o0o0o0

^Percy

Percy numbly changed into his robes for classes that day. He tried not to think of anything, to clear his mind, but that didn't work too well for him. There were only five things that Percy's mind was apparently set on thinking about. What were they?

Bob. Bob had been at Hogwarts. Percy hadn't gotten to see him. Deep down, Percy was angry at Nico for keeping something like this from him.

Oh, that leads to the second one: Nico. Percy knew that Nico had done the right thing, but he couldn't help but feel bitter toward the son of Hades. He was reminded of all the times Nico had (whether by accident or not) betrayed Percy. Emotionally, this was one of them. Percy had a right to know about Bob, right?

Another one: Annabeth. Annabeth had been in danger—more so than usual. Thorn had come looking for Percy, only because he was the first person Thorn had thought of. But what if Thorn had decided that Hogwarts was too much trouble to go to? He could've waltzed right into Manhattan and gone after Annabeth, instead. He needed to talk to her. Soon.

Damasen. Thoughts of Bob had led to thoughts of Tartarus, and how much he missed, appreciated, loved, and worried for the giant and the titan.

_No,_ Percy thought. He could feel tears stinging at his eyes—tears of both anger and grief.

Lastly: _This definitely isn't right._ He looked down, and he realized that his buttons on his shirt were in the wrong holes. He groaned and undid them all, just to do them again.

Sighing, Percy slipped on his shoes, grabbed his bag and his wand, and opened the door. Downstairs, he met a scene that he didn't expect. There was a small group of people gathered around the notice board, talking in whispers. Harry looked livid, and Ron was looking considerably pale and ticked.

Percy moved closer to hear them.

"—coincidence," Harry was saying. "She knows."

"She can't," Ron said quickly.

"There were people listening in that pub. And let's face it, we don't know how many of the people who turned up we can trust...Any of them could have run off and told Umbridge..."

Ron was about to say something, but Percy said, "What's going on?"

"Umbridge has signed another decree," Harry muttered through clenched teeth.

"Decree?" Percy asked.

"Yeah," Ron answered. "Umbridge comes up with these ridiculous rules and stuff, gets them approved by the idiot, corrupt minister, and then hangs them up in the school."

Grimacing, Percy said, "That sounds awful. What's this one about?"

"Well...we're going to have more trouble than we thought, organizing this...defense class. Read it," Harry urged, motioning toward the poster on the notice board.

Percy moved closer and stood there for a few minutes as he deciphered it. Finally, he made out something like:

**-BY ORDER OF-**

**The High Inquisitor of Hogwarts**

All Students Organization, Societies, Teams, Groups, and

Clubs are Henceforth disbanded.

An Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club is hereby

defined as a regular meeting of three or more students.

Permission to re-form may be sought from the High

Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge).

No student Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club

may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High

Inquisitor.

Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an

Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club that has not

been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled.

_The above is in accordance with_

_Education Decree Number Twenty-four._

Signed:

Dolores Jane Umbridge

High Inquisitor

There was also an official-looking seal to the right of it with a large M and the words _Ministry of Magic_ on it.

"Seriously?" Nico said from behind Percy.

Percy turned around and said, to Harry and Ron, "Well, we are still doing the...the _thing_, right?"

"Of course," said Harry at once. "We won't let Umbridge's stupid idea that she can control all of us stop us from learning Defense. It's too important."

"Makes sense," Nico said.

"I wonder if Hermione's seen this yet?" Harry asked nobody in particular.

Ron shrugged. "Let's go and tell her."

Percy turned toward Nico and they both made their way out of the common room for the second time that morning. Once they were sat down at the table, Percy said, "How do you think Umbridge found out?"

"We don't know that she knows, yet," Nico said, though he didn't sound very convinced.

"That's crazy, though. Why else would she sign for a decree to—"he started mimicking Umbridge's sickly sweet and girlish tone—"_ban all Organizations, Societies, Teams, Groups, or Clubs?_ And two days after we have our first meeting?"

Nico sighed. "You're right. I zoned out on half the conversation at the Hog's Head to take in our surroundings. Did you noticed that veiled woman at the bar who kept shifting during our conversation?"

Percy nodded. "I couldn't miss it. Do you think it was her?"

"Probably. Not much we can do about that, though, is there?"

"I guess not."

They ate in silence for a few more minutes, until Harry, Ron, and Hermione came in, and they were immediately swarmed with students from the meeting, all trying to ask them questions. Hermione desperately tried to wave them all off. After a few minutes, they all backed away and returned to eating their breakfast.

The three wizards came over to the demigods and said, "Hullo."

Percy looked up, grinning. "Say that again?"

They looked confused before Ron finally repeated, "Hullo?"

Percy shook his head at the curious looks on the trio's faces. "Nothing...So, I'd like to know—"

They were interrupted when a loud shout sounded across the Great Hall. "Harry! _Ron!_"

A tall, dark-skinned girl was making their way toward the five of them, looking extremely desperate.

"It's okay," Harry said when she was close enough for her to hear him whisper. "We're still going to—"

"You realize she's including Quidditch in this?" the girl interrupted. "We have to go and ask permission to re-form the Gryffindor team!"

"_What?"_ Harry said loudly.

"No way," Ron interjected.

The girl's breathing was getting faster, and she looked as if she were trying as hard as she could to keep herself from crying. "You read the sign, it mentions teams too! So listen, Harry...I am saying this for the last time...Please, please don't lose your temper with Umbridge again or she might not let us play anymore!"

The way she said it made Percy wonder what happened when Harry lost his temper with Umbridge the_ first_ time.

"Okay, okay," Harry said placatingly. "Don't worry, I'll behave myself..."

"Who was that?" Percy asked as the five of them got up to leave.

"Angelina Johnson, captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team," Ron answered.

Nico's eyes were on Harry as he asked, "So...you've lost your temper with Umbridge _before_?"

Ron grimaced and Harry's eyes glazed over with anger. Harry made an involuntary movement with his right hand, and then seemed to think better of it. After a few moments, Harry responded, "Yes, our first day in class with her...and then the week after that...I—erm—got a lot of detentions," he finished evasively.

"Which caused him to miss tryouts for Quidditch," Ron added.

"Yeah, and...Angelina wasn't happy about that—shouted at me in the middle of the Great Hall one morning when she found out I wouldn't be there. McGonagall wasn't happy with her."

Percy and Nico laughed.

"Sounds bad," Nico said. "What did you say to her?"

They all halted where Percy went left for his class and the other four went left for theirs.

Nico backed up a step and mouthed behind their backs,_ "I'll tell you later."_

Percy nodded. "Well," he said out loud, "this is where I leave you. See you later."

"See you," they all said back.

Percy turned away in order to head to Herbology. He took a side exit out of the castle and walked alone to the greenhouses. Once inside Greenhouse Three, he spotted Fred, George, and Lee, and went over to sit next to them.

"Hey, mate," they greeted. Percy nodded to them.

Just as class was about to start, Percy and George had been chatting idly when something suddenly appeared behind his head, shimmering in the sunlight.

Percy was met with the sight of Annabeth's face. He looked around, and saw that Lee was staring at it, too. Thankfully, everybody else was too busy doing other things to notice.

He immediately smiled at Annabeth, that always being his first reaction to seeing her face, and then looked at Lee in panic.

Making a split-second decision, Percy yelled, "I'll I-M you later!" and threw a glove through the image, causing it to disappear.

"Er...what?" George asked, confused.

"Nothing!" Percy said quickly.

"What was that thing? And who was that?" Lee asked, staring at Percy. "And what does I-M mean?"

Percy laughed nervously and decided to play dumb. "What are you talking about?"

Lee frowned, which was rare for him. "You know what I'm talking about."

"No, I don't," Percy attempted, but Lee shook his head and said, "You're a terrible liar."

"So I've been told," Percy muttered under his breath.

"So...who was that?" Lee continued.

"Who was who?" George asked, leaning forward.

"What are you talking about?" Fred put in.

"Nothing!" Percy said.

"Yeah, right," Lee said sarcastically. "Just tell us—"

But he was interrupted when Professor Sprout came in with instructions for the class.

Unfortunately for Percy, it was a double-lesson, so he spent two hours enduring Professor Sprout's instructions on how to properly de-weed some ugly plant while he was given curious looks by his three dorm-mates. When the class was finally over, Percy washed his hands, gathered his things, and ran from the greenhouse.

He hated being late to class, especially since it was Transfiguration (for a teacher, Professor McGonagall was really quite frightening at times), but Percy made his way to a bathroom on the first floor and went over to a sink next to a window. He dug around in his robe-pocket for a drachma.

After causing the water from the sink to mist in front of the window, a rainbow appeared. Percy tossed the drachma in and considered, for a moment, saying _O Fleecy, do me a solid and..._

Yeah, no. He couldn't take the chance of that blowing up in his face. He needed to talk to Annabeth.

"O Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, accept my offering." He paused, and then said, "Show my Annabeth Chase."

He didn't add the location because he couldn't be sure where exactly she was, though he couldn't think of any reason for her not to be at Camp Half-Blood.

Her face shimmered into existence in front of him, and he smiled. She smiled, too, and then said, "I'm sorry about earlier. I thought it would be too early for you to be in classes, but I guess I calculated wrong."

"It's all right," Percy said quickly. "Is there something you needed to talk to me about? How are..." He hesitated before plowing on. "How are you sleeping?"

"It's been going fine," Annabeth assured him. "But I want an update on you. It's been a month!"

Percy winced. "Gosh...it has, hasn't it? We've only been at Hogwarts for a week. Instead of taking two weeks for us to get there, it took three."

"Seriously?" Annabeth asked. "I wonder what went wrong..."

"It doesn't matter now," Percy said. "I'm sorry I didn't contact you earlier. It feels like it's only been a week..."

"That's okay. Tell me what's happened so far. How's your quest going?"

Percy sighed. "Erm...The person that we're supposed to be watching over and his two friends don't trust us, because unfortunately, they're the most observant and curious people in the school. The man we're supposed to save at the end of the year...we have no idea who he is. We know nothing about his history. The quest hasn't been going too well, but Hogwarts is...interesting."

"How?" Annabeth asked, eager for more information.

"Well...first off, the school is a castle. Literally."

"A _castle_?" Annabeth asked.

Percy nodded in affirmation. "Learning magic is really weird, and the castle is so big...I still have trouble finding my way around without Fred and George to help me."

"Who're Fred and George?"

Laughing, Percy explained, "Mischievious, red-haired twin-brothers who kind of remind me of Travis and Connor. They have a huge family...they told me all about themselves on the second night. Five siblings."

Annabeth huffed. "Yeah, well, how many kids are in the Athena cabin?"

"Their siblings are full-blooded. There are six brothers and a sister, in all."

"Oh...I feel bad for the _one_ girl," Annabeth said, grimacing.

"Yeah, _and_ she's the youngest. But...don't. I've met her...she turned out all right. She's tough. And _fourteen_," Percy added, just in case.

Annabeth smiled. "Okay...have you been attacked, or anything?"

Percy felt his face fall a considerable amount. Telling her about the attacks would lead to Bob...

"I'll go in order," Percy said. "Yes, Nico and I have been attacked. First, it was a dracaena. In the middle of the hall. Everyone watching. We manipulated this mist afterward, though...we convinced everyone that the monster-remains on the floor were cornflour."

"Cornflour?" Annabeth asked, laughing. "Really?"

Percy shrugged. "Yeah, well...anyway...Soon after, we were attacked by the Keres. Well, just one of them."

"You were _what_?" Annabeth sounded horrified. "Did it get to you again?"

Sighing, Percy said, "Erm...yeah, it did. I got scratched again...and I was out of it for a while. Apparently, when Nico was at my bedside...well...someone came and healed me."

Annabeth's eyes darkened. "Who?"

"Bob," Percy answered without hesitation. "I didn't get to talk to him. I was unconscious the whole time. I didn't even know about him until this morning."

Annabeth shook her head. She opened her mouth, closed it, and then sighed. "I'll think about that later. Anything else?"

"Well...Bob coming here led to another attack. Thorn came marching into the castle this morning, looking for him. He came here because of my connection to him, though I'm not sure why he didn't go to Camp Half-Blood first."

"Yeah, that's odd. Did Thorn hit you?"

Percy nodded. "But...I'm fine, now. Some nectar and ambrosia fixed both me and Nico up."

"That's good. So...what do you intend on doing about your quest?"

_What _do_ we intend on doing?_ Percy asked himself. After a moment, he answered, "Harry and his friends seem to know a lot about Sirius, so I think me and Nico decided we're just going to ask. We've tried to do some sneaking around, but Harry's got some _amazing_ instincts."

Annabeth laughed. "I bet they're not as good as yours." She tilted her head. "Thanks for talking to me. Don't you have class?"

Percy flinched, and then cursed. "Damn, I do have class. McGonagall won't be happy..."

Shaking her head, Annabeth said, "You'd better get going. How late are you?"

"I have no idea. Probably, like, ten minutes, now. Great. There are no clocks in this place...electricity doesn't work very well here. But somehow, everyone has watches."

"Hey." Annabeth snapped her fingers in front of the Iris-message. "Don't get off on your ADHD thoughts. Get to class."

Percy laughed at her demanding tone. Of course, even when it didn't matter, she'd want him to get good grades.

"Okay," Percy said. "I'll talk to you later."

Annabeth nodded. "Sure. I love you, Seaweed Brain."

"And I love you, Wise Girl. Bye."

"Bye."

Annabeth slashed through the Iris-message with her hand, and the image disappeared. Percy returned the sink to normal, willed the ground dry, and turned to walk out of the bathroom.

What he didn't notice was that a certain Slytherin boy had been hiding in a stall in the bathroom the whole time.

0o0o0o0o0

**Author's note:** Yes, sucky chapter, but I've already started the next one. It's fun, SOLANGELO, and...yeah. Malfoy and Umbridge get involved! Well, great chat.

I have a question: HAS ANYONE SEEN INSURGENT? Tell me what you thought about it. For me: it sucked.

Also, do me a favor, and review. Tell me what you like/don't like about my story, give me suggestions, etc. Thanks. Bye!


	14. Chapter 14

**DISLCAIMER:** Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, and all of their friends, and all of their lives, and their looks, their personalities, etc. ALL belong to Rick Riordan and J. K. Rowling.

**Author's note:** ...yeah. I got a complaint about the length of my chapters compared to how much I update (I'M DEFINITELY NOT COMPLAINING, THOUGH—THANK YOU FOR THE OPINION). Just, keep in mind—I'm busy, all the time, and I write a lot of things other than this fanfic. I beg of you, be patient with me. I update as much as I can, when I've finished chapters, and have found time to take a break from school/work/clubs/orchestra/NJHS/my freaking family-emotional-problems/FINALS. I would rant, but I really don't feel like typing three pages worth of feelings and then typing a stupid filler chapter because I couldn't concentrate on the plot.

DEAL WITH IT. I really don't want to be rude, but I update when I can, when I've finished the chapter. You're all great, and thanks for the feedback and stuff, but really...

Well, I'll get on with it, now.

0o0o0o0o0

^Nico

"..._that _was interesting."

Ron huffed. "That evil witch...I don't like Trelawney much, but I certainly would choose her side over Umbridge."

Harry nodded. "Yeah...Just our luck, having Defense right after that."

The fifth-year Gryffindors had just been to Divination, where they had gotten a surprise visit from their dear Professor Umbridge. Trelawney had been brutally and embarassingly interrogated by the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

They all sat down next to Hermione, who had been waiting in the back of the class for them.

"You and Umbridge have got something in common," Harry told Hermione, causing her to grimace. "She obviously reckons Trelawney's an old fraud too...Looks like she's put her on probation."

Hermione was about to respond when a sickly girlish voice interrupted their conversation.

"Good afternoon, class."

Nico didn't say anything, but listened as the rest of the class chanted unenthusiastically, "Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge."

It sounded dull and toneless, as if they were all in some sort of trance. The sound disgusted Nico.

"Wands away, please..."

Nobody moved; nobody had dared hope that this lesson would be different from all the others.

"Please turn to page thirty-four of _Defensive Magical Theory_ and read the third chapter, entitled, 'The Case for Non-Offensive Responses to Magical Attack.' There will be—"

"—no need to talk," Nico heard Harry, Ron, and Hermione interrupt under their breaths.

Nico almost laughed, but he didn't. He just opened his book to page thirty-four and pretended to read. And read. And read. It seemed to be days before the lesson was over. When it finally was, Nico hurriedly stuffed his things in his bag, ready to report to Percy what he'd learned from the trio after he'd left.

When Nico finally came across Percy, he was leaning against the wall just outside the Great Hall, staring across the corridor. When Nico followed Percy's gaze, he saw that Percy was staring at a boy standing twenty feet away from them. They boy had an owl on his shoulder.

Nico immediately made the connection.

"Thinking about Annabeth?" Nico asked as he drew level with Percy.

"Yeah...I just I-Med her."

At that, Nico was shocked. "When?"

Percy sighed and tore his gaze from the owl on the opposite side of the corridor. He looked elated, but sad at the same time.

"Yeah...oops. I was late to Transfiguration by fifteen minutes because I was talking to Annabeth. I got fifteen points off Gryffindor and a detention tomorrow after classes."

Nico cringed. "Yeah, that's unfortunate. Did Annabeth message you or did you message her?"

Laughing nervously, Percy said, "She contacted me first...in the Greenhouse."

"In the middle of Herbology?" Nico said incredulously.

"No, it was right before Professor Sprout walked in, but Lee Jordan saw it, and Fred and George are suspicious. Have you noticed that we keep making tiny slip-ups? Everyone, eventually, is going to get suspicious and want to know more about us. We need to be more careful."

Nico sighed, his gaze roaming around the school. It was so large that you wouldn't think secrets would spread to every inch of the school so quickly...but he'd seen it happen recently with rumors about Harry. If something about Percy and Nico got out, Nico had no doubt that every last student would know about it within six hours.

"Yeah," Nico said. "You're right. I've been saying that a lot lately..." he added, and Percy shoved his shoulder, laughing.

"Hey, can you help me? I need to talk to Will, and it's not like hoses here work or anything..."

Percy shrugged and said, "Yeah, no problem. Can I eat, first?"

Nico smirked. "Your stomach rules you. Yeah, let's eat."

Both demigods walked into the Great Hall. Nico's gaze traveled around it, and he realized that he'd never actually paid attention to how it looked. The coolest thing about it was the ceiling—the first time he'd walked in there, Nico had thought there wasn't a ceiling at all. But then he'd heard George Weasley say something about it to his twin, and he realized that it was just enchanted. As of now, the sky was a dull gray-blue, as the sun was coming down and there were no clouds.

Percy and Nico sad down amidst the mass of black-robed students with red-and-gold ties and scarves.

"Hey," Ginny Weasley said to them.

"Hi," Percy said as Nico nodded in acknowledgement.

Ginny leaned forward. "I have a question."

Percy shot a quick look at Nico that clearly read, _Should we be alarmed?_

Nico shrugged.

The son of Poseidon put on a nonchalant face and said, "Shoot."

Smiling, Ginny added, "Well, a few questions. Is the wizarding world different in here than in America?"

Percy laughed, and Nico felt relieved. Chiron had talked to them about this. The wizarding world was _very_ different in America than Europe.

"Well," Percy said, "there are no House-Elves in America. The Emancipation Proclamation didn't _just _apply to the mor—Muggle world, you know."

"What were you about to call them?" Ginny asked.

"That's another thing," Nico added. "We call Muggles mortals in America. I almost had no idea what Fred was talking about the first time I heard him use the term."

Ginny laughed, her brown eyes suddenly dancing with mirthful light. "I never knew that—I always just assumed...I don't know...that we're all the same. I should've guessed that we weren't, judging by last year..."

"What happened last year?" Percy asked, tilting his head.

Ginny's smiled faded a little bit. "You didn't hear? The Triwizard Tournament...two other schools came to Hogwarts last year and one contestant from each competed. One was from...Bulgaria? Somewhere around there. And the others, I think, were French. They weren't all that different, really...but then again, they were...I don't really know how to—sorry, I'm rambling. That's odd, I usually don't talk very much—around people I don't know, at least..."

Nico felt himself choke on laughter, and coughed to cover it up. Percy, however, didn't bother. His eyes crinkled and his hair fell into his sea-green eyes as he bent forward, clutching his stomach.

Her face turning sarcastic, Ginny said, "Oh, thanks—just laugh at me. I definitely won't be talking to _you two_ again—"

Nico raised his hands and started to say, "I didn't do—"

But Ginny cut him off, narrowing her eyes. "I heard you laugh—coughing to cover it up is the oldest trick in whatever metaphorical book my older twin-brothers keep speaking of."

Nico raised his eyebrows. "Well, alright."

Percy leaned forward and said, "I like you. You're fierce. Maybe it's growing up with six older brothers—"

"_Don't_ get me started," Ginny muttered, shaking her head. She looked down at her now-empty plate, and said, "I should go and meet Michael. I'll see the two of you later."

Percy said, "See you" the same time Nico said, "Bye."

Ginny got up and left.

The two demigods finished their meals in silence. Once they were both done, Nico said, "Bathroom?"

"I-M it is," Percy said cheerily, getting to his feet.

"Hey, you never told me what Harry, Ron, and Hermione told you about Umbridge."

"Oh," Nico said as he stood up. They both started walking down the long aisle between the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tables. "Harry apparently lost his temper with Umbridge after this huge conversation about not using defensive spells in class. Umbridge asked who they thought would try and attack children; Harry answered angrily. He said that this Voldemort character was back, and Umbridge tried to tell the class it was a lie, and then Harry started shouting at her about how he was there when Voldemort returned and a guy named Cedric was killed..."

Percy whistled lowly. "Wow. That's—well...Harry's got quite the nerve, standing up to Umbridge like that."

"I know. Harry got detentions for the rest of the week, and then more detentions after that the next week..."

"Who's Cedric?"

"I asked. A competitor in the Triwizard Tournament that Ginny just told us about."

"Hmm. Quite a loaded year for the people at Hogwarts, then?"

"Seems like it."

They made their way to the farthest bathroom they could think of (because the ones nearest the Great Hall would be the busiest). When they made it to the sixth floor, the two of them turned left and plunged into the fourth door on the right, next to a weird, animal-looking stone statue.

"Here, let me..." Percy said, trailing off. As he went and turned on the sink, Nico walked around the rest of the bathroom, checking in all of the stalls to make sure that nobody else was in there. When it was all clear, Nico walked back over to Percy, who was using the last light of the day in the window to create a rainbow. He had his hand held up in front of him, manipulating the water into mist.

Even though Nico had always felt ridiculous saying this, he muttered, "O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering. Show me Will Solace."

He tossed the coin in.

A few second later, the mist shimmered into an image of Will, his blonde hair swept back from his face, and eyes narrowed. One arm was held in front of him and the other pulled back, ready to shoot the arrow strung in his bow.

Nico inwardly snorted. Just as Will was about to release his right hand, Nico shouted, "Will!"

Will jumped at the sound and released the arrow at the same time. A millisecond later, Nico and Percy heard someone squeal in the background of the image. Will's eyes widened and he leaned forward and shouted, "Oh gods—sorry, Katie! That's my bad—Nico!"

The son of Apollo had finally spotted Nico in the Iris-Message shimmering next to him.

"Oh—erm, hey—wait—_really_, Nico? I almost impaled Katie with my arrow!" Will complained.

Nico smirked. "I thought you were supposed to be a son of Apollo," he said, mock-surprised. "You were really so far off that you almost impaled Katie?"

"You surprised me," Will defended.

"And?" Nico said.

"Shut up."

Nico laughed, and Will grinned victoriously.

"What's that look for?" Nico asked, slightly irritated.

"I made you laugh," Will said, his lips turned up even more. Nico looked over to Percy, knowing that he wouldn't understand this. While Nico was still in the infirmary at Camp Half-Blood after the war, they had both made a bet—every time Will made Nico laugh, Nico had to pay him a drachma. "Again," Will added. "You owe me."

Nico rolled his eyes.

"So...how's the quest going?" Will asked.

The son of Hades was silent. Okay, so he hadn't thought this out. He wanted advice about the person standing next to him—but that was the problem. Percy was standing right next to him. But if he asked Percy to leave, how was he supposed to keep the water misty?

After a few seconds of thinking, Nico said, "Percy, do you mind...?"

Percy looked away from the wall he was staring at. "Huh? Oh...but...the Iris-Message?"

"Just...do it from outside. Can I talk to Will in private?"

"Yeah," Percy said, his tone understanding. "Yeah...I'll just..."

And he walked out of the bathroom, closing the door behind him. The mist stayed where it was.

"What is it you want to talk about?" Will asked.

Nico felt his face darken. He tried to shake it off, but his attempt was futile.

"Something's wrong," the blonde said. It wasn't a question. "Tell me, Nico."

Sighing, Nico stated bluntly, "Bob showed up."

Will's jaw dropped to his knees. "Bob...as in, _Tartarus_, Bob?" he asked, and Nico winced at the memory.

"Yes...him. Bob showed up when Percy and I were attacked by Keres, and Percy was scratched. Bob healed Percy, but Percy was still out cold. And...I was there. And...I didn't tell Percy that Bob had been here." It sounded worse coming out of Nico's mouth than it did in his head. "I didn't want Percy to have a mental breakdown," Nico continued, suddenly feeling the need to explain himself. "I thought that if he knew Bob was here, he'd go crazy and become consumed with...guilt, or something. I thought..."

Nico's voice trailed off, realizing that he was just making excuses.

"And...Percy's acting like it's okay, and he's cool, but...I know that's not true. I can see right through him. His eyes portray way more than his words. And he's extremely hurt...I don't know what to do. I didn't mean to hurt him, I meant to protect him, but—"

"Nico," Will interrupted. "Nico, calm down."

Those words had always bothered the son of Hades. When he got worked up, Nico was never easy to calm down. If his temper flared, it always stayed at boiling point until he had either resolved whatever conflict it was or taken it out on someone. Either way, Nico took a deep breath and looked Will straight in the eyes.

Will shook his head. "Nico, there's...I don't think there's anything you can do about that. You just have to let Percy feel what he wants. In time, he'll forgive you. He'll completely forget about this. You'll see."

Yeah, Nico had feared that answer. Out of all the times he'd gone through the situation in his head, he found no way to make Percy feel better toward Nico. He'd hoped that Will might find an answer that Nico hadn't, but the hope had been brittle.

"Yes."

Nico had gone into gloomy, formal mode.

"Yes, okay. I understand."

"Nico—"

"No, I knew the answer to the question before I asked it. I'm not sure why I asked it in the first place—"

"Because you had hope!" Will cut across him. "And don't give up on it. Percy _will_ forgive you. He doesn't have a problem with grudges, like someone we know."

Nico snorted, and Will smirked at him.

"That's two drachmas."

"That doesn't count!" Nico exclaimed.

"Of course it counts!" Will retorted, his blue eyes wide and mock-outraged. "Snorting is a form of laughter! Besides, I would know better than you—"

Nico raised his eyebrows. "Would you, now? Just because—"

"No, I'm not arguing with you right now—let me get out of the archery field—"

"Don't change the subject—"

"Wow, Nico, you're more stupid than you look if you think—"

"—_than I look_? What in Tartarus is that supposed to mean?"

They both stopped talking, and laughed. After a few seconds, Will yelled, "Three drachmas!"

Nico groaned. "We need to revoke this bet! I'm—"

"I know, you're _changing_—which is why I'll never revoke the bet! The longer we keep it, the more drachmas I get."

Shaking his head, Nico smiled and said, "Too bad you'll have to wait until I get back to get your drachmas. You'll have revoked your bet by then. I'll convince you."

Will tilted his head, making his blonde hair fall into his eyes. The corners of his mouth were tilted in a wise, playful smirk. "Maybe I will have, but there's no way I won't get you to pay up, first. So, tell me about the quest. How's it going?"

"I don't think we're making very much progress, but I have a feeling that we're not supposed to be, yet. We're supposed to save some man, but Chiron had given _extremely _vague instructions. And we have to get Harry Potter and his friends to trust us so that we can help them, but they're the nosiest and most suspicious people in the school, of course. Why can't _anything_ just be _easy_?"

Will thought it over for a second, and then said, "We wouldn't be demigods if anything was easy for us. Do you think I can help you with anything?"

"Maybe. There's this—"

Nico stopped talking as the mist disappeared, and Will's face started to dissolve.

"What's happening?" Will asked.

"I don't know—maybe Percy got distracted—"

"I-M me later!" Will said hurriedly. "Please—"

"Of course," said Nico. "Of course I will—"

Will's face disappeared.

Nico immediately turned around and marched out of the bathroom. He didn't bother to look at what was going on before he said, "Seriously, Percy? I was just about to—"

"Nico!" Percy interrupted, a tone of warning in his voice.

"Ah! Mr. di Angelo, is it? Well, you can come with me, too—"

Nico finally took in his surroundings. He was standing just outside the bathroom, and right in front of him, there were three people: The first one he noted was Umbridge, because she was brightly colored—ugly, girlish pink clothes, compared to the black ones the other two were wearing. Umbridge had her wand out, though it was pointing toward the floor. She was smiling, and had a crazed glint in her eyes. The next person he noticed was Percy—he was standing, defenseless (well, Percy was never _defenseless_, since he had his sword with him, but he could hardly whip it out and use it on the Professor), in front of Umbridge, looking the smallest amount of nervous. And then there was Malfoy—the jerk Slytherin who always taunted Harry, Ron, and Hermione (and _all _of the Gryffindors, for that matter). The blonde fifth-year had his wand pointed at Percy, and Umbridge wasn't doing anything about it.

Wasn't magic forbidden in the corridors, or something?

Nico could _smell_ the favoritism.

"What's going on?" Nico asked.

"I think," Umbridge said, in her revolting voice, "the two of you will be coming with me. I have a few questions that I'd like to ask you."

Percy and Nico exchanged a glance.

"About what?" Percy asked.

"You'll know when we get there," Umbridge replied. "You may go back to your common room, Draco. Thank you for the information."

Percy flinched, and Nico inwardly groaned. _What_ information?

They mutely followed Umbridge. As they walked, the two demigods had a silent conversation.

Percy looked over to Nico and widened his eyes. He mouthed, _What do we do?_

Nico thought for a second. They couldn't just run away, as Umbridge would still be suspicious and keep looking for them. They couldn't attack Umbridge, because they'd definitely get into trouble for that, and they couldn't erase her memory or anything.

The son of Hades turned his head toward Percy and mouthed, _Mist?_

Percy furrowed his brow, staring at Umbridge walking in front of them. Then he responded, _For what?_

Yeah, Nico could translate those two words into, _How do we use the Mist to get out of this?_

And the sad thing was, Nico had no idea.

Nico shrugged. _I don't know_, he mouthed.

Percy nodded, his face grim. Nico saw the word _Great_ form on his lips.

Neither of them could see a logical way out of this.

Until they heard, once they were right outside Umbridge's office, someone shout, "Professor Umbridge!"

Umbridge looked up, completely distracted.

0o0o0o0o0

**Author's note:** HEY! BTW, just wanted to let you know, **I GOT ACCEPTED TO PLAY IN THE "HONORS PERFORMANCE SERIES" THIS SUMMER AT CARNEGIE HALL IN NEW YORK!**

Oh my freaking gods, I am so excited. While I'm there, I'll go to the empire state building as ask if I can go up to the six-hundredth floor. You have no idea how freaking thrilled I am that _1) _I _actually _got accepted, and _2)_ I AM GOING TO NY, NY. OMGs. Ohmygodsohmygodsohmygodsohmygods...

*****DROPS DEAD*****

(Oh, by the way, there will be NO Percy/Ginny or Nico/Ginny. NONE. I just need them to get close.)

….please review!


	15. Chapter 15

**DISCLAIMER:** Harry Potter and Percy Jackson belong to J. K. Rowling and Rick Riordan—not me!

**Author's note:** Thank you for your responses. I'm really glad you like my ideas, and you're all amazing. Sorry for the cliffhanger—just kidding, I'm not, but still...

I couldn't get a hold of my Order of the Phoenix book, which I needed in order to do this chapter. It frustrated the chuff out of me! I wrote as much as I could without it (up until the common room part where Angelina approaches the trio), and then I had to stop for four days until I got my book back. So, I am really sorry.

Also, just letting you know: It might be while until the next update. Finals are coming up these next two weeks, and I keep getting a lot of grueling homework. After that, though, updates should come _a lot_ more often.

0o0o0o0o0

^Percy

"Professor Umbridge!"

Percy's head whipped around to see who it was just as Umbridge looked up from her door, distracted.

There was a ghost—a _ghost_—who looked slightly frightened, yet was smiling nervously and looking extremely alarmed.

"Yes, Sir Nicholas?" Umbridge said, her tone annoyed.

"You've got to help us—the Fat Friar and I are trying to get him under control, and she's just gone to find the Bloody Baron to scare him off—Peeves is harassing the first-years again, and wreaking havoc in the corridor outside the kitchens! Things are getting smashed and first-years are getting pelted with dung bombs and water balloons—it's absolute mayhem!"

Umbridge looked outraged. "How—many—times—do I have to tell him—to stop—wreaking—havoc—in the corridors?" she said through gritted teeth, her hands clenched at her sides. She didn't seem at all concerned about the first-years—until this _Sir Nicholas_ added,

"Those poor Slytherins are covered in feces—"

"Oh, dear," muttered Umbridge. She was shaking with anger. Finally, after a few moments, she said reluctantly, "Thank you for informing me, Sir Nicholas."

The ghost bowed with a slightly bitter expression on his face, though Umbridge didn't seem to notice this. Umbridge marched off with her toad-like face pointing upward in indignation and pride.

"Erm...I don't know what we did to deserve that, but thank you, Sir Nicholas," Percy said after a few moments of stunned silence.

Nico looked extremely suspicious and somewhat angry. "Why haven't I seen any ghosts here _before_ now?" he asked, his eyes narrowed.

Ah. Percy now remembered that, standing next to him, was the Ghost King. Of course Sir Nicholas would help them out.

Sir Nicholas looked away with slightly wide eyes. "Ah, yes...well...we...we were...in a manner..."

"We?" Nico said. "Seriously? How many of you are there?"

The ghost took a deep breath and looked back so abruptly that his head fell off—or _almost_ fell off. Percy jumped back in surprise at the predicament. The guy's head was only still held onto his neck by an inch or so of skin and cartilage. It was completely disgusting.

"Heh, whoops," Sir Nicholas said in a nervous laugh, with his head still hanging off his neck. He reached up his right hand, placed his head back where it belonged, and then pulled up his ruff.

Percy inwardly gagged.

Nico took a deep breath, waited a moment, and then said, "You've all been avoiding me, haven't you? Now that I think about it, I can sense all of you—and gods, there are a lot of you."

Sir Nicholas cringed. "You see—in the wizarding world, when you die—"

Nico put up his hand, and the ghost halted his speech. "No, I don't want to hear about it. Thank you for helping us—a small repay for the huge price you owe my father for escaping him."

The son of Hades definitely wasn't helping Sir Nicholas' nerves.

Smiling sheepishly, Percy said, "'Bye, Sir Nicholas."

"Goodbye, young demigod," the ghost said quietly. "And most people just call me Nick."

"Okay."

Nico looked like he wanted to say more, but Percy grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the scene. He spluttered angrily a little bit before calming down and walking with Percy, fuming. After a few minutes of walking, they were both back in the common room.

It was rather quiet, but Percy assumed that the reason for this was that the twins and Lee weren't anywhere to be seen. Everything looked the same as usual: cozy, red-and-gold, and full of students chattering quietly and laughing softly.

The two demigods walked over to a corner in the common room near the fire and settled down.

Percy sighed, picking at a loose string on his bag. "This is _way_ more work than I'm used to. I mean, do we have to write everything in English?"

"We shouldn't," Nico said, sounding irritated. "Maybe we should just write our essays in Greek and see how the professors react to it."

Laughing, Percy said, "Actually, I think I will. It'll be a lot easier, anyway."

Nico rolled his eyes. "You do that. I've never met a demigod who's more dyslexic than you."

Percy opened his mouth to counter that, but then Nico added, "Except Leo."

"Exactly," Percy said. "Hey—have you _tasted_ the chocolate here?"

"Oh gods." Nico's attention was suddenly fully on Percy. He perked up a bit. "It's freaking amazing, right?" he said uncharacteristically.

"Gods, yes...Do you think it's because of the magic? Or maybe the fact that we're so much closer to Switzerland?"

Nico snorted. "I think it might be a little bit of both."

Both of them looked up as Harry, Ron, and Hermione entered the common room. They were immediately ambushed by Angelina Johnson. Percy and Nico both got up and walked over casually in order to hear their conversation.

"No Quidditch practice," Angelina said to them.

Harry instantly looked mortified. "But I kept my temper! I didn't say anything to her, Angelina, I swear, I—"

"I know, I know. She just said she needed a bit of time to consider."

_Yeah, right,_ thought Percy. _I bet she's already given the Slytherins permission. Didn't seem like she was giving Gryffindor much thought earlier._

Ron echoed Percy's thoughts. "Consider what? She's given the Slytherins permission, why not us?"

Harry's eyes narrowed in thought and anger. Hermione took a deep breath, and then said, "Well, look on the bright side—at least now you'll have time to do Snape's essay!"

Ron's jaw dropped, and Harry said in a peeved voice, "That's a bright side, is it? No Quidditch and extra Potions?"

Harry had a point.

"Oh—hey," Ron said to the two demigods once the trio turned away from each other.

"Sorry about Quidditch," Percy said.

"Me, too," Harry said. All of them made their way over to some chairs in the corner where Percy and Nico had previously been sitting.

Harry didn't seem too enthusiastic about it, but Percy was smirking as he started his essay for Charms. He wrote his name at the top: Περσέας Τζάκσον, and then set to work on his essay. He found it way easier than attempting to write in English like he'd been trying to do before then.

When he was finished, he looked up from his parchment for the first time in twenty minutes. Harry had gotten basically nothing done. It seemed he was having trouble concentrating. He kept glancing into the fire. Ron was almost just as distracted. His eyes were unfocused, and he was staring at his essay with blank eyes. Hermione, however, was completely immersed in her work.

Or—so it seemed. Apparently, the way she looked now wasn't nearly as concentrated as she usually was. She suddenly looked up from her parchment, annoyed, and sniffed. Percy followed her gaze to find the twins back in the common room, testing out their own prank products on themselves.

They all sat in the common room for another two hours. Percy finished all of his work, surprisingly. Harry had almost nothing done, and Hermione was way too irritated by Fred and George to get as much done as she usually would. Ron was working, but slowly.

After a while, when the trio showed no signs of wanting to go up to the dormitories, Nico and Percy decided to get up and leave. They were the last ones in the common room besides Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

The two demigods reached the stairs and went of four steps before crouching down, waiting for the three fifth-years to break into conversation. But something completely unexpected happened. Ron's voice yelled something like, "Serious!"

Percy crawled down a few steps and peered around the corner. The trio were all three staring into the fire.

"Hi," came a mature, male voice.

_No, not serious,_ Percy scolded himself. _Sirius! Sirius Black!_

"Hi," the three wizards responded simultaneously.

Percy looked to Nico and whispered extremely quietly, "Sirius? Like...quest-Sirius?"

"How many Siriuses do you think there are in the wizarding world?"

Percy made a face it the son of Hades. "How in Hades would I know?"

"How many times have I told you to stop using my father's name like that?" Nico whispered harshly.

Shrugging, Percy said, "However many times you say it, you'll never get me to stop."

Nico huffed and rolled his eyes. They both quieted again in order to listen to the trio and Sirius Black.

"How're things?" the gruff voice—_Sirius_—asked.

There was a small hesitation, and then Harry's voice said, "Not that good. The Ministry's forced through another decree, which means we're not allowed to have Quidditch teams—"

"—or secret Defense Against the Dark Arts groups?" Sirius interrupted.

Percy gaped at Nico for a second. And then he thought back to his instincts—_that veiled witch. Well, at least she'd been on our side,_ Percy thought, relieved. And then, because now there was a total possibility, _What if someone else in there hadn't been?_

Shaking his head, Percy continued listening.

"How did you know about that?" Harry's voice demanded.

Percy could hear the grin in the man's voice when he responded, "You want to choose your meeting places more carefully. The Hog's Head, I ask you..."

Hermione's voice was slightly defensive. "Well, it was better than the Three Broomsticks! That's always packed with people—"

Nico and Percy looked at each other, smirking, when Sirius said, "—which means you'd have been harder to overhear. You've got a lot to learn, Hermione."

"Who overheard us?"

"Mundungus, of course," Sirius said.

_What kind of name is Mundungus?_ Percy thought absentmindedly, before returning his attention to the conversation.

Sirius, for some reason, laughed. "He was the witch under the veil."

Percy snorted softly at the word _he_, and Nico sent a sharp look over at him.

_Sorry_, Percy mouthed to the son of Hades. Thankfully, the trio didn't seem to hear anything.

"That was Mundungus?" Harry said, stunned. "What was he doing in the Hog's Head?"

"What do you think he was doing?" Sirius replied impatiently. "Keeping an eye on you, of course."

In the most quiet of whispers he could manage, Nico asked, "Why do you think Harry would need such close supervision?"

Percy thought for a moment, staring at the shadows of the trio that were dancing across the common room in the light of the fire. Then, he said, barely whisper, "Maybe this Voldemort situation is worse than we thought."

"Maybe so."

We both turned back to listen to the conversation that Sirius, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were having. Apparently, they'd missed some of it.

"—from us?" Ron was saying, sounding disappointed. "We'd've like to've seen him."

"He was banned from the Hog's Head twenty years ago," Sirius said, amusement coloring his voice, "and that barman's got a long memory. We lost Moody's spare Invisibility Cloak when Sturgis was arrested, so Dung's been dressing as a witch a lot lately...Anyway...First of all, Ron—I've sworn to pass on a message from your mother."

Percy just barely managed to hold in a laugh at Sirius' last statement. Whatever Ron's mom had to say about this secret Defense Against the Dark Arts club, it probably wasn't very supportive.

"Oh yeah?" Ron said, trying to sound defiant, but instead achieving apprehensive.

"She says on no account whatsoever are you to take part in an illegal secret Defense Against the Dark Arts group," Sirius said, confirming Percy's suspicions. "She says you'll be expelled for sure and your future will be ruined. She says there will be plenty of time to learn how to defend yourself later and that you are too young to be worrying about that right now. She also advises Harry and Hermione not to proceed with the group—"

"Like _that's_ going to happen," Percy muttered quietly to Nico.

"—though she accepts that she has no authority over either of them and simply begs them to remember that she has their best interests at heart. She would have written all this to you, but if the owl had been intercepted you'd have all been in real trouble, and she can't say it for herself because she's on duty tonight."

"On duty doing what?" Ron said, concern evident in his tone.

"Never you mind, just stuff for the Order," said Sirius. "So it's fallen to me to be the messenger and make sure you tell her I passed it all on, because I don't think she trusts me to."

Nico leaned into Percy and muttered, "I forgot to tell you, Harry's owl showed up today in History of Magic, injured. I'm pretty sure that she was intercepted."

Percy thought back to all the times he'd seen that owl at breakfast. Harry never really got any letters, but the owl would show up to visit Harry anyway. She was a beautiful, snowy owl with large amber eyes and quite the attitude.

"Poor thing," Percy said. "Did she have a letter when she showed up?"

Nico furrowed his brow for a second, and then said, "Yes, she did."

Percy sighed. "That can't be good."

"No," Nico agreed.

Percy sighed as Ron said, "So you want me to say I'm not going to take part in the defense group?"

"Me? Certainly not! I think it's an excellent idea!"

"You do?" said Harry, sounding hopeful.

Percy thought about the way Harry was speaking to Sirius—as if Sirius were some sort of father to him. And at that moment, Percy was glad that the second half of their mission—which seemed impossible to the two demigods—was to save Sirius Black, when the time came. If this quest meant that Sirius was destined to die, Percy and Nico _would_ defy the fates. Harry didn't need anymore traumatizing experiences, seeing as—from what Percy had already heard—Harry had had way too many of them already.

Lost in thought, Percy had spaced out of the conversation. These were times when ADHD kind of sucked.

"—get expelled?" Hermione was saying.

"Hermione, this whole thing was your idea!" Harry said, sounding surprised.

"I know it was...I just wondered what Sirius thought."

There was a small pause, until Sirius said matter-of-factly, "Well, better expelled and able to defend yourselves than sitting in school without a clue."

"Hear, hear," came Harry and Ron's droll voices.

"So—" Sirius tried to say, but Harry interrupted him.

"Hey, and there's another weird thing—there are two new students at Hogwarts. They're American, and slightly suspicious."

Percy and Nico froze, and the son of Poseidon stopped breathing for a second. What would the trio—or Sirius, for that matter—have to say about the two demigods?

There was a small pause, and then Sirius said, "What about them?"

"Well—we dunno," Ron said. "They're just...odd."

"I think that they're here for some other reason than school," Hermione said thoughtfully. "I just don't know if it's for a good reason or a bad reason."

"I think you should trust them," Sirius said abruptly, subtle recognition in his tone.

_Does he know about us? _Percy wondered.

"What? Why? You haven't even met them!" Hermione said indignantly.

_Wow, thanks, Hermione._

"Take my word for it, those two can be trusted. Can you three keep a secret?"

There was a scoff, and Harry said over it, "Of course we can."

Sirius took a breath, coughed, and then said, "Dumbledore asked them to—"

The man's voice abruptly halted.

"Sirius?" Harry asked.

No answer. Suddenly, there were three shocked gasps, a strangled sort of resistant cry, and the sound of pounding footsteps. Percy looked over at Nico, confused, and saw that Nico had widened his eyes in panic.

"Damn!" Nico cursed, and he grabbed Percy's arm. Immediately, Percy felt himself being weirdly distorted, and connected the odd feeling with that of hiding in the shadows. After a few seconds, Harry and Ron were tearing up the stairs, a door shut, and there was silence.

Nico let go of Percy and brought them back into their real forms.

"What was that about?" Percy asked Nico.

"I don't know, but it can't have been good."

"No," Percy agreed.

They both stood there for a moment, still stunned by the sudden turn of events.

After five minutes of nothing but standing and staring at each other, Nico sighed and said, "You should get to your dorm. I'll shadowtravel to my bed in case Harry or Ron are awake."

"Okay," Percy said numbly. Nico melted away, and Percy started climbing the stairs. Once he was back in his extremely comfortable bed, he fell into a dreamless sleep.

0o0o0o0o0

_Meanwhile..._

"They are at Hogwarts, My Lord," a voice informed, terror evident in his voice.

"Are they, now?" a high, cold voice responded. "Interesting..."

"What are your plans for them, My Lord?" asked the first voice.

"Not even I know that yet, Wormtail," the evil voiced chuckled mirthlessly. "We know nothing of their power, or even species..."

After a few seconds pause, the man called Wormtail said bravely, "Do we have plans to figure these things out?"

"We might...Yes, we might..."

0o0o0o0o0

There, the second half of the quest was revealed! (Even though most of your had most like already figured it out).

**Author's note:** I have a VIQ! (Very important question).

**What color are Sally's eyes in the books? Απάντησε μου!**

I don't know if it ever mentions the color at all in the books; perhaps it was just mentioned as a throwaway comment somewhere in the series. I know they're either blue or brown. I would go back and look myself, but I really don't feel like reading the whole Percy Jackson series again at the moment, as I'm in the middle of a different series.


	16. Chapter 16

**DISCLAIMER:** Neither Percy Jackson nor Harry Potter belong to me—they actually belong to Rick Riordan and J. K. Rowling.

**Author's note: **OH. MY. GODS. First of all, I want to apologize profusely for my extreme lateness this time. Our teachers worked us hard these last two weeks. I had to study for my exams (science and history, which sucked), and then I took them...and didn't expect my Algebra exam to be until...like...the middle of May. Guess what? Suddenly the only EOC I had left was on Tuesday the 5th. So I studied for four days straight, took the test, and then caught up on everything that I had rejected purely because I had made Algebra my first priority. So, now I have time to write, and I thank you all for being patient with me.

On with the show!

0o0o0o0o0

^Harry

Harry awoke from his dream, not in any dramatic manner, but still shocked at the content. Voldemort had said something about...about a different species? Plans? Harry struggled to hold onto what he had seen through Voldemort's eyes, but it was slipping away rapidly.

Slowly sitting up, Harry noticed that this dream was quite different from the ones he'd been having recently—the ones about the long, marble hallway with a dead-end, a locked door. Somehow, it was a relief that he'd had a different dream for once, but the fact that it was still from Voldemort's mind overshadowed the small sense of alleviation.

Harry mentally shook himself and got up to get dressed. Ron was still asleep, and so was Neville, but Dean and Seamus weren't in their beds. Harry took a few deep breaths and tried to remember more from his dream again, but he found that he could only recall even less than he had been able to in the first place.

After changing, brushing his teeth, and not bothering to try and do something with his hair, Harry went to Ron's bedside to wake him up so that they wouldn't be late for breakfast or for classes.

"Ron," Harry said, shoving at his friend's shoulder.

Ron groaned and rolled over, stuffing his face in his pillows and muffling his snores.

"Ron," Harry repeated. He shoved a bit harder.

He only groaned louder and tried to bat away Harry's hand.

Harry laughed and shoved his friend even harder, causing him to roll over again and fall right off the opposite side of the bed.

"Bloody hell, mate!" Ron complained. "It's the middle of the night!"

"It's not the middle of the night," Harry said, laughing, "and you know it."

"Whatever," Ron huffed. He stood up and brushed off his shirt. "Hey—why is Neville still asleep?"

Harry looked over, realizing that it _was_ odd that Neville was still asleep. He was always up before the rest of us, even Seamus and Dean. Harry shrugged and walked over, deciding not to let his dorm mate sleep in and miss his classes. Contrary to Ron, all it took to wake Neville up was a light tap on the shoulder.

Neville sat up and stretched, groaning a little.

"Sleep well?" Harry asked.

"Er—yeah," Neville said. "Wow...I should probably get ready. Thanks for waking me up."

"No problem," said Harry.

Neville had a weird look on his face as he hastily grabbed his robes from the trunk at the end of his bed and rushed into the bathroom without looking at anyone.

"What was that about?" Harry asked, turning to Ron as he buttoned the top of his robe.

"I dunno," he said, staring at the bathroom door where Neville had disappeared to.

Sighing, Harry grabbed his wand from his bedside table and put it in his robe pocket.

"Ready?" he asked Ron.

"Yeah, I'm starving."

Harry snorted. Ron was always starving.

0o0o0o0o0

^Percy *the next day*

_Where am I?_

Percy thought he knew the castle well enough by now to not have to follow the Weasley twins everywhere any longer. Apparently, he'd thought wrong. He now regretted telling the twins to go on without him to Care of Magical Creatures, as he'd needed to talk to Nico.

Nico and Percy had figured out two things from the conversation they'd heard the night before last. One: Sirius Black was obviously very important to Harry Potter, and maybe Ron and Hermione, too. From the way they spoke to each other, Sirius seemed to be some sort of mixture of a parental figure, a brother, and a friend. Two: They were happy to save Sirius. Sirius seemed a good-intentioned man, despite what everyone from the school kept saying about him. Harry and his friends seemed to know the truth, and the lies that the prophet were creating suddenly seemed weak and far-fetched.

Turning around, Percy studied his surroundings. Damn, the corridor leading the Entrance Hall had been two left turns back. Sighing, Percy backtracked, took the turn, and made his way to his class.

Once he was there, George came by his side and said amusedly, "You're ten minutes late, mate."

Percy shook his head and laughed off the teasing look on George's face. "Yeah, I took a wrong turn, and then I missed a turn, and then I missed another turn. I had to backtrack twice."

"Still getting used to the castle, then?" Fred asked from a few feet away.

"What does it look like?" Percy asked, holding up his hands.

The twins laughed.

The class went on for a while. Somehow, the sub (the twins and Lee had told Percy that some guy named Hagrid was supposed to be teaching the classes), Professor Grubby-Plank, somehow made a class that was supposed to be fun and interesting extremely boring and learn-y.

When class was finally over, Percy followed Fred, George, and Lee to their last class before lunch. He chatted with Lee while the twins spoke to each other in whispers. He had just been telling Lee about Manhattan when something caught his eye.

"So...this...Mad Hatter place...do you like it?"

Percy laughed. "It's Manhattan. And yeah, I love it. It's my city, I grew up there. People can be kind of rude and crazy, but that's because they're always in a rush."

Lee stared at Percy curiously for a second. "That doesn't seem like much fun."

Percy shook his head. "The people aren't always bad. And there are lots of cool things there, too. Like...the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Or the Empire State Building." _Or Mount Olympus._

"The what-building?" Lee asked.

"Empire State Building. It's 102 stories and gets visitors all the time. Oh, and there's also the Statue of Liberty, but I'm guessing you don't know about that, because it's purely American."

Lee shook his head. "Never heard of it...What kind of building has 102 stories?"

"The Empire State Building," Percy responded unhelpfully, laughing.

"And this Met-something Museum...What's in it?"

Percy cringed, remembering back to the quest for Annabeth and what happened at the Met. "It's really cool, and there's this section—"

Cutting off abruptly, Percy looked sharply to his left, where he had seen something flash right in his eyes, like the reflection of a mirror.

"Something wrong?" Lee asked, stopping alongside Percy. The twins looked back curiously.

"No...You two go on. I'll catch up later."

Both of the twins raised an eyebrow.

"We have to get to class, and if you get lost, you'll get another detention."

Percy shook his head. "I won't get lost."

"That's what you said last time."

"Shut up."

They all laughed.

Percy sighed and said, "Go on without me. I'll see you three later."

Reluctantly, the three of them all said, "Alright" and moved onto their next class without Percy.

Percy walked over to where he had seen the flash of light slightly apprehensively. The corridor that Percy, the twins, and Lee had been walking in was still full of people bustling to arrive on time to their classes. Trying not to draw attention to himself, Percy put on a nonchalant face and walked over to the small corridor off to the side like he knew exactly what he was doing.

He was met with the sight of Ginny upon turning into the corridor, her fiery red hair pulled up in a ponytail. She was holding a small compact mirror in her left hand, and her wand in her right.

"Er—hey," Percy said, confused.

"Hey," Ginny greeted. "Listen, Harry, Hermione, and Ron have found a place to do the...Defense club," she said quietly. "It's on the seventh floor, opposite the giant tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. Yes, it's a blank wall. All you have to do is walk past it three times thinking about what you need...in our case, somewhere to practice Defense where they can't find us—_they_ meaning Umbridge and whoever is mental enough to be on her side. Like the Slytherins. And the Ministry. And the Daily Prophet."

Percy laughed. "Er...thanks. What time do we need to be there?"

"Eight, or a little before it."

"Cool. Has someone told Nico?"

Ginny nodded, turning away. "I had Neville go and tell Nico about it. So...see you there?"

"Yeah, sure, but I have a question."

Turning back, Ginny said, "And that question would be...?"

"Why couldn't you just tell the twins and Lee, also? What's with the whole secret-agent-flashing-a-mirror thing?"

The redhead rolled her eyes. "My brothers and their friend already know. I didn't want all of you coming in here at the same time, because honestly...this happens to be the corridor where all the mischief happens."

Percy was a little slow on the uptake, until Ginny winked and turned again to walk away.

"Wait—did you seriously think that me being in here alone with you would be any better? Fred and George—and _Ron_—would flay me alive if they found out!"

Ginny turned her head and said over her shoulder, "_You're_ the one making a big deal about it!"

"I'm_ not_!"

Ginny only laughed and made her exit.

Percy shook his head and muttered, "Girls."

0o0o0o0o0

It was 7:58 when Percy and Nico knocked on the door leading into the secret Defense room. Percy had walked past it three times thinking about the club, and then watched with Nico in fascination as the door appeared on the blank stretch of wall in front of them.

The door opened, revealing a small group of people already gathered inside. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, two Gryffindor girls he'd seen before but never talked to, and Dean.

"Hey!" Ginny greeted enthusiastically.

Percy waved, and then took a few moments to admire this new, secret room.

It was huge. The walls were lined with bookcases, barely any space for just the _wall_ left. There were a few shelves at the opposite side of the room that bore odd, silver-ish instruments, and some strange mirror. Instead of chairs, like a normal person would use, there were large cushions sitting in stacks on the floor. Then again, none of them were exactly _normal_, were they?

"That's...a lot of books," was the first thing Percy said after walking in the door.

Nico snorted. "Yeah. Erm...what are those?" he asked Harry, pointing toward the instruments on the shelves.

Harry looked over from Ron and started to explain, but just then, more people started arriving. Pretty soon, Percy was sitting between Ginny and Nico on a strangely comfortable silk cushion. All of the cushions were now occupied.

Harry let out a breath, his emerald green eyes scanning all of them nervously, and said, "Well. This is the place we've found for practices, and you've—er—obviously found it okay—"

"Bloody brilliant," Harry heard Michael Corner say from Ginny's other side.

"It's fantastic!" an Asian girl said from across the rows of cushions.

"It's bizarre," Fred said, staring around at the room in a state of curious bewilderment. "We once hid from Filch in here, remember, George? But it was just a broom cupboard then..."

George laughed and nodded as Dean asked, "Hey Harry, what's this stuff?" while pointing to the shelf of instruments.

"Dark Detectors," Harry replied. He stepped closer to them. "Basically they all show when Dark wizards or enemies are around, but you don't want to rely on them too much, they can be fooled..."

Harry trailed off, staring into the mirror Percy had noticed earlier. He shook himself a bit, and then turned back toward the group of Hogwarts students in front of him. "Well, I've been thinking about the sort of stuff we ought to do first and—er—What, Hermione?"

Percy looked around at Hermione, who had her hand raised. She lowered it and stated, "I think we ought to elect a leader."

Finding this the slightest bit crazy, Percy said, "Harry's leader," at the same time as the Asian girl from across the room.

"Yes, but I think we ought to vote on it properly. It makes it formal and it gives him authority. So—everyone who thinks Harry ought to be our leader?"

Everyone's hands went up—even the prat, Zacharias Smith, from the Hog's Head.

Harry immediately flushed and said, "Er—right, thanks. And—_what_, Hermione?"

The bushy-haired girl was smiling brightly, her hand in the air again. "I also think we ought to have a name. It would promote a feeling of team spirit and unity, don't you think?"

Percy had no idea why having a name for the association-thing was such a big deal, but he didn't say anything. He'd learned—by a combination of observance and some experience—not to contradict Hermione.

The Gryffindor Quidditch captain—Angelina?—said, "Can we be the Anti-Umbridge League?"

"Or the Ministry of Magic Are Morons Group?" Fred suggested from behind him.

A few people snickered.

Hermione cast a reproachful glare at Fred before saying, "I was thinking more of a name that didn't tell everyone what we were up to, so we can refer to it safely outside meetings."

"The Defense Association?" the Asian Ravenclaw suggested. "The D.A. for short, so nobody knows what we're talking about?"

"The D.A.'s good," Ginny said from Percy's right. Percy looked over to her and saw that she was frowning thoughtfully. "Only let's make it stand for Dumbledore's Army because that's the Ministry's worst fear, isn't it?"

A few people laughed and murmured appreciatively at this suggestion.

"Clever," Percy admonished.

Ginny grinned. "Thanks."

"All in favor of the D.A.?" Hermione said, raising to her knees to count the hands. "That's a majority—motion passed!"

Percy rolled his eyes at her bossy-ish antics as she pinned the parchment with all of their names on the wall and wrote DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY in big letters at the top.

"Right," said Harry when everyone had settled down again, "shall we get practicing then? I was thinking, the first thing we should do is _Expelliarmus_, you know, the Disarming Charm. I know it's pretty basic but I've found it really useful—"

"Oh _please_," the blonde prat said. "I don't think _Expelliarmus_ is exactly going to help us against You-Know-Who, do you?"

Percy didn't know much about wizard's duels, but he knew that disarming your opponent_ was_ pretty helpful while sparring with swords. It was usually how you won them, if they weren't duel-to-the-deaths (unless you were Percy, whose sword came back to his pocket if he lost it).

"I've used it against him," Harry said, suddenly grim. "It saved my life last June."

Everyone was very quiet.

"But if you think it's beneath you, you can leave," Harry said, tilting his head while staring at Zacharias Smith. But nobody moved.

Harry looked away and swallowed. "Okay, I reckon we should all divide into pairs and practice."

Percy got to his feet along with everybody else. Nico and Percy immediately teamed up and walked off to the side of the room.

"This is weird," Nico said, pulling his wand from his robe pocket. He held it up, and Percy did the same. "I think I like sword-fighting better."

Percy grinned. "You haven't even cast a spell."

"Oh, so you disagree with me?" Nico asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Hades, no," Percy said immediately, and Nico scowled at him. "Sparring with swords is much better than this. What was the word again?"

"Er—_Expellimus—Expelliarmus. Expelliarmus_, that was it."

"_Expelliarmus_," Percy repeated. "Gods, I'm bad at magic," he added, grimacing.

"You have no idea," Nico said. "At least we're good at a different type of magic."

"I know, right? Great self esteem booster."

Nico rolled his eyes. "Er—do you want me to go first?"

Percy looked around at everyone else, observing them. "Sure," Percy said.

"I feel ridiculous," Nico muttered. "Okay. _Expelliarmus!_"

Percy felt his wand twitch a little, and then fall still.

"Styx," Nico cursed quietly. "I have no idea how to do this."

"I'll try," Percy said. He raised his wand a little higher and tried to concentrate. _"Expelliarmus!"_

Nico's wand did the same thing.

Nico snickered. "I thought you were supposed to be a seventh year?"

"I thought you were supposed to be a fifth year?" Percy retorted.

"Seventh is worse."

"Fifth is still bad."

"I don't care what you think."

"I never said you did."

"Don't irritate me."

"You started it."

"So what if I did?"

"What, you get to irritate me, but I don't get to irritate you?"

"This is a ridiculous argument," Nico deadpanned.

"Again, you started it," Percy said, shrugging.

Percy guessed Nico got a bit tired of using magic at that moment. He threw his wand like a knife toward Percy, the tip barreling toward his chest. Percy raised his own wand and intercepted the blow without magic.

"Gods, Nico, these aren't swords," Percy said, laughing.

Suddenly, there was a loud cry of, "I DID IT!" from some fifteen feet away. Percy looked over to see Neville Longbottom smiling gleefully. "I've never done it before—I DID IT!"

Harry hesitated, and then said, "Good one," encouragingly. "Listen, Neville, can you take it in turns to practice with Ron and Hermione so I can walk around and see how the rest are doing?" he asked as he retrieved his wand.

Neville nodded, and Harry immediately walked over to Percy and Nico.

"You have nice instincts," he said to Percy.

Percy assumed he had been watching when Nico had thrown his wand at him. Percy shrugged his compliment off and said, "They're insticts, right? I can't control them."

Harry shrugged, too, and turned to Nico. "Nice throw."

Nico nodded.

Harry laughed a little. "You might want to try, you know, using magic, though. I doubt throwing your wand at people—or arguing with them—would help in a duel for real," he said to both of them.

Percy held up his hands in a _What-Can-You-Do?_ gesture.

"Right, well, I'll move on," Harry said, and he moved to the middle of the room to observe. He stared at Zacharias Smith for a minute, then looked over to Fred and George, laughed, shook his head, and walked over.

Percy turned his attention back to Nico, who had lifted his wand again.

"_Expelliarmus!"_ Nico tried for the second time.

"Woah!" Percy said as his wand almost slid out of his grip. "Hey, that was better."

"Great," Nico said, "but it still didn't work."

"Progress is progress," Percy said wisely. _"Expelliarmus!"_

They both tried over and over again. After about fifteen minutes of continuous fails, they both achieved the Disarming Charm. They spent a few more minutes doing it, just to make sure it wasn't luck, until a whistle echoed around the room.

Harry was standing in the middle of the room, looking slightly flustered, with a whistle in his hand. "That wasn't bad, but there's definite room for improvement. Let's try again..."

Everyone immediately went back to work. Harry roamed around, helping people who needed it and giving advice to others.

At one point, when Nico was getting ready to cast the spell again, a wand went flying past Percy's head, so close that it skimmed his ear, and almost slammed straight into Nico. Nico raised his wand to parry the one flying toward him, and then picked it up.

"Oops," George said, running toward them to retrieve his wand from Nico. "That's mine. Fred was a bit too enthusiastic..."

They laughed, and George walked away again.

Time went by too quickly for Percy's liking. Suddenly, Harry was blowing his whistle again, and everybody had stopped.

"Well, that was pretty good, but we've overrun, we'd better leave it here. Same time, same place next week?"

"Sooner!" Dean Thomas said eagerly from three feet away.

"The Quidditch season's about to start, we need team practices too!" Angelina protested quickly.

"Let's say next Wednesday night, then, and we can decide on additional meetings then...Come on, we'd better get going..."

Harry pulled a piece of battered parchment out of his pocket, muttered something to it, and started letting everyone leave in small groups.

"You did great, Harry," Percy said to him while he, Nico, Ginny, and Michael Corner waited for Harry to let them go. Percy remembered how much he'd enjoyed teaching the younger campers how to use a sword. He'd always enjoyed it, but it usually made him slightly nervous. Not that he'd let anyone see it.

"Thanks," Harry said. "It's clear; you can go, now."

Percy said goodbye and left the Room of Requirement with Nico, Ginny, and Michael at his side. Everything felt oddly calm, almost at peace. He could almost relax.

But then he remembered the term _The calm before the storm._

He'd almost been fooled by the calm before the storm before.

He wouldn't let it happen again.

0o0o0o0o0

**Author's note: **I repeat: There will be no Percy/Ginny, at all. I resent that, and I don't see how anyone could _ever_ imagine Percy cheating on and/or breaking up with Annabeth.

I thank you for your patience, and reviews are appreciated.


	17. Chapter 17

**DISCLAIMER:** Anything you recognize belongs to either Rick Riordan or J. K. Rowling. I own almost nothing, and seek no profit from this story.

**Author's note:** I usually don't have very much time for writing, and that's why my chapters are usually pretty late, but this time, I was writing almost ALL THE TIME. I couldn't seem to get it how I wanted it. I rewrote three of the scenes in the chapter so many times that I lost count. And it's longer than the others, which is a good thing, I guess. But still...this chapter was really difficult to write.

But I think I got it how I wanted it...mostly...ish...

I swear, if it bores you at the beginning, DON'T GIVE UP ON IT! I SWEAR TO ALL THE GODS, it gets A LOT better. Closer to the end. So, if you make it past (censored), then you'll get to read (censored), AND YOU WON'T HAVE REGRETTED IT.

Carry on.

0o0o0o0o0

^Percy

Everything was lulled into a sense of security. Dumbledore's Army was as smooth and fun as ever, and Percy's classes were great (well, as great as they could get, with Umbridge and Snape as teachers). Nothing was disruptive, nobody was prying into his business (that he knew of), Nico was okay, Percy was having less nightmares, and he updated and talked to Annabeth often, which definitely added to the good mood he seemed to constantly be in.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Percy vaguely cursed himself for falling into this stupid trap. He should've known that nothing had ever gone right for him—he'd always had terrible luck. The only good things that ever happened to him were the triumphs at the VERY end, and it was obvious to him, right now, that he was far from an end.

The first _off_ thing he noticed was Neville Longbottom.

Percy had never really talked to him. He only knew _of_ him, because he was Nico's room mate, and he felt obligated to know. Percy had gathered that Neville was a somewhat nervous being, but very kind and slightly naive. He almost reminded Percy of Frank, in his personality (before he turned Praetor and got blessed by Ares).

Percy, Nico, Lee, Fred, George, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville had all been grouped in the Common Room when Percy finally acknowledged the fact that Neville wasn't acting right.

He was shifty, sending glances at Percy and Nico as if he were afraid, or apprehensive. He wasn't talking much, and if he was spoken to, he jumped almost imperceptively and nervously before responding in his usual manner.

They were playing a game called Exploding Snap, which Percy was still failing to understand (though he didn't really mind). After about fifteen straight minutes of staring at an extremely shifty Neville, Percy said, "I'm going to go and ask Professor Sprout about those—er—Moonlace."

It had been the first plant to pop into Percy's mind, and he cursed himself for using something that was most likely involved somewhere in Greek mythology. _Well, no taking it back now._

"The what?" Lee asked. "She hasn't said anything about Moonlace."

"Moonlace?" Neville asked, interested. "I've heard of it before, but Professor Sprout definitely doesn't have any Moonlace in the greenhouses—"

Percy felt his eye twitch in restless irritation. He searched his mind for something they had learned in Herbology class already. "Sorry, not Moonlace, that was just on my mind. I meant Dittany. Would you like to come with me, Neville?"

Nico, to his right, sent him a slightly baffled look, but Percy sent one back that said, _You'll find out later._

Nico shrugged and stayed silent.

Neville could obviously tell that Percy's request was really leaning more toward an order, so Neville stood up and said, his voice shaking slightly, "Sure, I'd love to."

"Great," Percy said enthusiastically, patting Neville on the back. They both walked across the common room, climbed out of the portrait hole into the somewhat dim corridor (it was around half-past-five), and walked about twenty paces before Percy stopped abruptly, turning to face Neville.

"What in Ha—" Percy cut himself off before he used the god's name. He took a breath. "Is there something wrong? Because you're acting all shifty and nervous and you keep glancing at me and Nico as if you expect us to explode or something—"

Neville mumbled something that Percy could barely hear.

"What?"

"You can say 'Hades,'" Neville said quietly.

Percy reeled back a little in shock.

"What?" he repeated intelligently.

Neville took a deep breath and plunged forward, "I know about you and Nico, about who you are. I figured it out, and I'm really quite surprised that nobody else has. You and your...Roman symbol...and the auras of power...I was in the library all night for almost three days in a row, trying to figure it out. It's odd, knowing something Hermione doesn't," Neville added, laughing softly. "You're Roman demigods or something, right?"

Percy cringed. "No."

Neville sighed, his face falling. "You don't have to admit to it now; I totally understand—"

"No, Neville, I mean—we're not Roman demigods." Percy looked around and shifted he and Neville so that they were a little more hidden from the corridor around them. He leaned in a little and said, so quietly that only Neville could possibly hear, "We're Greek."

Neville leaned away confusedly. "But, your arm..."

He trailed off when Percy pulled up the sleeve of his robes, revealing his Roman brand/tattoo/mark-thing. He still didn't know what to call it. Percy stared at his own forearm for a second before saying, "That's a really long story. But...these"—Percy tugged lightly at his leather necklace—"are from my camp. Me and Nico are Greek demigods. I'm a son of—"

"Poseidon," Neville supplied. "Yeah, I figured. I mean, your eyes sort of give you away. I thought you were a son of Neptune, at first, but Poseidon is his Greek aspect, right?"

When Percy nodded numbly, Neville continued quickly, "I know more about the myths than an average person going to Hogwarts would. I was always fascinated with them, growing up. I didn't like the stories from _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_ much. I found a Muggle book lying in the street one day when I was eight, and I kept it, and I...I actually still have it. It's on Greek Mythology. And...I guess I've always loved the myths ever since."

Percy _really_ didn't know what to say. "Er...wow."

Neville flushed. "Yeah...sorry for rambling."

Rambling? Definitely. That was more than ten times than what Percy had heard come out of Neville's mouth since he arrived in one speech.

"So...I guess you know, now."

Neville shrugged. "Yeah, I guess I do."

Percy tilted his head, nodding. "Well...don't tell anyone."

"Oh, no," Neville said. "Never. I think I'd always believed that the gods were real in some way. I imagined us wizards as descendants of Hecate or something, but I doubt that's true*. I wouldn't dream of giving away your secret, even with your consent. The Greek and wizarding worlds crashing...I really don't think that would be pretty, what with the horrible enemies that could possibly end up stirring."

Percy almost wanted to say, _You're smarter than you look_, but—having been told that himself, firsthand—he knew how much that actually kind of stung, in a way. So, instead, Percy said, "You're right, I don't think it _would_ turn out very good."

Neville nodded, silently agreeing.

They lapsed into a small awkward silence.

Then Percy brought up a small problem that was undoubtedly on both of their minds.

"So, how do we tell Nico?"

0o0o0o0o0

"Nico?"

"Yes?"

"Er...Neville knows."

"Neville knows about...? What? Dittany?"

"No, Nico," Percy corrected, sighing, "he knows about _us_, if you know what I mean."

Nico cringed, leaning against the wall in the bathroom of the seventh-year dormitory. Fred, George, and Lee hadn't gone up to the dorm yet (they had decided to stay downstairs and take up Ron's rematch challenge), so they were by themselves. Percy didn't know why they had immediately gone to the bathroom, but it felt safer.

"Gods, you make that sound _so_ weird. There's nothing..."

Nico was obviously being slower than usual today.

"Nico, think. Neville knows...Gods, don't make me say it out loud!"

Suddenly, Nico's eyes narrowed, and then widened. "You mean, he knows that we're demi—"

"Yes!" Percy said, cutting the son of Hades off before he could get the whole word out. "Yes. I don't know _how_ it could've taken you so long for you to catch on to that...Aren't _I_ supposed to be the Seaweed Brain?"

"Shut up," Nico said, making a face. "It's just...you said that Neville had figured something out...and I had no idea that he was...well..."

"Smart enough?" Percy supplied dryly, raising an eyebrow.

"No! Neville is plenty smart...I just didn't think he would be..._observant_ enough."

"Yeah, Nico, nice save—"

"Stop twisting my words around, Kelp Face, that's not what I—"

Nico cut off when they both heard the twins and Lee walk into the dormitory. Percy froze, staring at Nico with wide, flustered eyes. Nico snorted at the expression on Percy's face, and walked out of the bathroom like it was nothing.

After a few seconds of hesitation, Percy followed suit.

"Woah," Fred said, seeing the two of them exit the dorm bathroom with Percy's face flushed.

"Something you need to tell us?" George asked, waggling his eyebrows at the two Americans.

Nico rolled his eyes and Percy shifted his gaze restlessly between the three wizards standing in front of them.

"No," Nico said shortly, obviously barely keeping the laughter out of his voice at the sight of Percy's face.

"You sure? Because Percy looks all...blushy and steamy...if you know what I mean," Lee said, grinning mock-suggestively at the two of them.

"Positive," Nico said, unfazed.

Percy huffed and gave Nico a small shove toward the door. "Leave. Sleep well."

"Don't I always?" Nico muttered, throwing the words over his shoulder.

Percy rolled his eyes as the door shut behind his friend.

There was a small silence where Percy watched as Fred and George stared contemplatively at the door where Nico had been only a few seconds before. Then, slowly, Fred turned to Percy and asked, "Is Nico...er..."

Percy waited for Fred—or George—to finish the question, but no more words came.

The son of Poseidon rolled his hands in a _Go on_ gesture.

"Nothing," George said, laughing. "Well, good night, Percy."

Percy was about to respond when suddenly Fred asked, "Hey, Percy?"

Percy sat on his bed, pulling off his shoes and taking some shorts out of his trunk to sleep in. After he'd finished changing, he turned to the three other occupants of the room and said, "Yeah?"

Fred and George exchanged looks before asking at the same time, "Is your name short for anything?"

Lee nodded. "I'd been wondering, too."

"Why?" Percy asked a little defensively.

"No reason, really," Fred said.

"Yeah, we have—er, _had_—a brother named Percy. It's short for Percival," George continued.

"And the curiosity has been eating away at us."

Percy, instead of answering the question, subconsciously let his ADHD kick in and asked, "What do you mean by _had_?"

The twins' eyes darkened. "He's a prat," they said together.

Percy sensed that there was a lot more to the story, but he let it go. "Er...yeah, my name is short for something."

He didn't exactly want to tell them. He knew that the twins and Lee were very clever, and he wondered if _Perseus_ was too suspicious of a name. But when Percy didn't continue, and his new friends were staring at him expectantly, he couldn't exactly deny them.

Sighing, Percy complied, "It's short for Perseus."

Silence. Percy cringed at the silence.

And then, "Wow! That's an amazing name. It sounds all...ancient and powerful."

Percy almost snorted at Lee's words, but he contained himself. _If only he knew..._

"Yeah, thanks. Er...good night."

"'Night," all three of them responded together.

None of them really mentioned the name since then.

0o0o0o0o0

Some more time passed by. Everything was unnaturally smooth. Percy and Nico got closer to Neville. Neville never talked or asked about the two demigods, which made Percy grateful. He didn't want to tell Neville what they'd been through, or answer any questions about the Greek or Roman worlds.

All sense of calm was shattered violently by just one Potions class.

0o0o0o0o0

_This is an omen_, Percy thought resignedly.

He'd just woken up from the first _really_ bad nightmare he'd had in a few weeks. He had been under the impression that things were getting better for him for some strange reason. Maybe it was all the magic—was it protecting him? Or maybe it was the fact that the gods didn't go near Hogwarts.

_But that doesn't make sense._ What did his nightmares have to do with the gods? Tartarus was more of a primordial, and it really had more to do with the Titans and Giants than it did with the gods.

And Bob had showed up at Hogwarts, so that meant that the Titans were able to approach it.

_The calm before the storm,_ Percy remembered. Peace was never a good sign, because there was no such thing.

"Perce? Percy—are you okay?" the son of Poseidon heard from somewhere to his right.

He instantly jerked out of his thoughts. He looked away from where he'd been staring absently at the wall, covered in a thin sheen of sweat, shaking slightly. Percy took a deep breath, shook his head to clear it, and said, "I'm fine."

"Sure you are, Percy," George said sarcastically.

Percy just made a face at him and got out of bed. He made his way toward the bathroom to wash his face before putting his robes on for classes. Thirty minutes later, Percy, Fred, George, and Lee were down the stairs and through the portrait hole, heading toward their first class of the day—Double Potions.

_What a terrible way to start your Tuesday, _Percy thought bitterly as the four of them approached the small group of seventh-years waiting for Snape to show up. There weren't very many of them. Only five Gryffindors (Angelina Johnson was also there), three Ravenclaws, two Slytherins, and two Hufflepuffs. Most of the people were pretty nice, even the Slytherins. The only thing that made Potions so horrible was Snape, the unfair, condescending git.

Sometimes, Percy got the feeling that Snape could read minds or something, because every time Percy mentally insulted the overgrown bat, he'd receive a glare from him. Percy didn't let himself be intimidated by the professor's stare—he just glared right back, which Snape didn't seem to like very much. Not in a sense that Snape was intimidated—it seemed that the teacher was more irritated by the fact that he couldn't get under Percy's skin like he could with the rest of his students.

Percy smirked a little to himself as Snape showed up, unlocked the door to the dungeon with a flourish, and walked in, leaving the students to pour in after him.

Snape spent ten minutes explaining the potion they were brewing that day and explaining its effects (not without adding the consequences of not getting it done, or not doing it properly). The next five minutes were just a bustle of people, flipping pages, gathering ingredients, setting up cauldrons, and lighting fires underneath them.

Snape seemed especially irritable that day—or was it just because Percy hadn't seen him in four days, and he'd gotten used to a lack of condescending tones in his life?

"What do you think's up with him today?" Lee whispered from his left.

Percy picked up his asphodel and said, as he plucked off the petals, "Oh, good, I'm not crazy. You noticed, too?"

"Certainly," Lee said. "Though, now that I think about it, he's probably always this way, and I just haven't seen him in a while."

"That's what I thought," Percy admitted quietly. "But, since you noticed it, too, I doubt it."

The twins leaned over their side of the table.

"You know," Goerge said, pretending to borrow some of Lee's bat wing, "maybe it's Umbridge."

"Yeah," Fred agreed. "All of the teachers have been worse than usual, recently."

Lee leaned over the table and took George's bat wing, since the twin had taken his own, and said dryly, "I wouldn't be surprised if he was on Umbridge's side, the git."

The twins shrugged in agreement.

There was suddenly a large, greasy Potions master standing over Percy and Lee. "Is there something you need to share with the class, Mr. Jordan?" Snape asked, his voice dripping with disdain.

"No, Sir," Lee said, shaking his head.

Snape huffed, raised an eyebrow, and moved away, sticking his abnormally large nose into someone else's potion.

The four of the were quiet for a while after that.

And then it happened.

The room had been silent, save for the noises of page-flipping, shredding, and slicing. Occasionally someone coughed into their elbows, but nobody spoke.

A potion exploded.

A sickly, greenish-yellow gas erupted violently from the table to his right—one of the Hufflepuffs had accidentally dropped a wrong ingredient into the potion, and the potion reacted severely. Percy turned his head and immediately walked away from the growing cloud of dense smoke, along with everybody else.

The Hufflepuff looked mortified, and she kept muttering, "Sorry, sorry," over and over again while trying to clean up some of the mess. "The gas isn't poisonous or anything, though! It just smells funny," she added, in hopes of lifting peoples' spirits a bit.

"Jeez, Lee, when was the last time you showered?" Fred asked jokingly, trying to make the Hufflepuff girl feel better.

"Yeah, Lee, do you see those people across the room? Even _they're_ cringing!" George added, smirking at his friend.

Lee wrinkled his nose and brought his right hand up to his dreads, scrubbing through them at the scalp. "Nope, I'm pretty sure I showered yesterday." He went on to lean toward Percy and pretend to sniff at him. "Oh, man...Percy, you reek."

Almost everyone in the room laughed at their antics, and Percy responded, "Damn, you caught me. I'm secretly a skunk." Though, Percy couldn't smell anything, which was odd, since everyone else in the class was making weird faces at the odor from the steaming cauldron to his right.

The Hufflepuff girl (Percy _really_ should've learned everyone's names by now, but he had already known at least two of the guys in all of his classes, so he hadn't really needed to make friends) smiled, obviously relieved at her classmates' humor toward the situation. But Percy saw Snape approaching her desk with a furious look on his face, and she went back to vigorously cleaning up her table and trying to counter the smoke.

And then, the smell hit Percy like a truck.

He instantly leaned over his table and gagged on the smell—it was sulfurous and acidly, and it almost burned his lungs. He felt his mind go blank, and he was suddenly surrounded by Tartarus.

Where did his Potions class go? He could've sworn he'd been in Potions, and his professor—_what was his name again?_—Percy couldn't seem to remember it...

Oh, but he remembered Tartarus.

_He could feel Annabeth's arms wrapped around his torso, and he had had his own around her, too. The wind was rippling their clothes and ripping at their hair and skin as they fell deeper, and deeper, and deeper...The light was turning red...Everything was so dark...It was so unnatural, but at least he had Annabeth pressed against himself. He told himself, right there, that he would never let go..._

Distantly, Percy could hear alarmed shouts coming from somewhere other than where he thought he was: The deepest pit in Hell. People were screaming his name, but the voices were slowly fading away, and Annabeth's was louder...

_He felt like he was drowning in the cold of the river they'd just hit. It surrounded him, and suffocated him like he'd never felt before...Something weird settled in his chest. Fear? No. It was some sort of sadness. It weighed on Percy. He tried to fight it, to reach the surface, but it was like an anchor, dragging him down, telling him that it was useless, that everything was useless..._

_There was whispering..._

_Where was Annabeth? He'd lost her! He needed to find Annabeth..._

_Suddenly she was there, and he gripped her hand. Together, they kicked, but the exhaustion was creeping in...Terror grasped at his heart...Misery seeped into his bones..._

"Percy!" someone yelled from the outside.

"What's happening?" someone else demanded, horror in his voice.

"Percy, mate, snap out of it!"

People grasped his shoulders and his arms, but their touches were fading.

_Percy had just sliced the first _arai, _and a shock of pain settled around his ribcage. He had been cursed...he had done this _same _thing to Geryon..._

_Annabeth eyes had turned a milky white...they had _blinded _her! They would...they would pay..._

_His arms was around Annabeth's waist, and he was staring as defiantly as he could into the faces of the _arai_, but he could feel it...there were too many of them..._

_He was cornered on a cliff...one of _them _attacked Percy and Annabeth...And suddenly Annabeth was stumbling around, calling his name._

"_Percy?" he heard her say, terror in her voice._

_That voice ripped through Percy's gut._

_He tried to tell her that he was right there beside her, but she couldn't seem to hear him._

"_Percy? Why did you leave me?" she wailed, shattering Percy's heart in the process._

_And then he was fighting them again. More curses settled over him. His eyes were twitching, his lungs were seizing up and his breaths were coming in short gasps, blood was everywhere on his body...He tried to make his way toward Annabeth, but something pierced his thigh...He roared and sliced through the monster, and it disintegrated, but his mouth was suddenly on fire..._

_Fire rolled through his mouth and down his throat, and started to burn the rest of his body along with it...He was choking on the feeling...his vision was blurring...he fell to his knees, succumbing to the pain._

The voices around him had completely faded. Nothing was left but the Pit. The Pit was all he could see, or hear, or smell...or _feel_.

The Phlegethon was still burning his tongue.

_Poison was rolling toward him...He gagged on the fumes...It was coming closer, surrounding him, suffocating him..._

_But seeing Annabeth's eyes full of terror while staring at him was, by far, a million times worse, as he made the poison roll back toward Akhlys._

He couldn't stop the horror from seizing him...The memories were too strong...

Percy felt himself slide out of his chair and hit the floor beneath him.

_There was something like a heartbeat pounding beneath their feet. The thought filled him with dread and disgust. But they were closer...so much closer..._

_He just stopped Annabeth from falling headlong into a river...but they were _speaking _to him..._

_He saw Zoe _**(A/N...sorry about the lack of dots above the E. My laptop doesn't let me do that, for some reason. Same thing with the word "naive," if you see it in my story)** _Nightshade, who had died while they were on Mount Tam. He couldv'e...he _should've_...done something..._

_He saw Bianca di Angelo jumping into the giant mechanical monster, and he wasn't stopping her..._

_Percy saw himself destroying the bridge, and then looking around for Michael Yew...But he was nowhere to be found..._

_Silena was dying in front of him, in the arms of Clarisse..._

_He was handing the knife over to Luke..._

_Luke was dying, and it was his fault..._

"_You killed all these people!" screamed one of the voices from the River Acheron._

"_You're no better than us!" another yelled at him._

Everything was suddenly quiet in the outside world. Someone laid a hand on Percy's shoulder, but Percy couldn't seem to make himself open his eyes.

_Tartarus himself was towering above them...Resignation and raw terror creeped into his very soul..._

_And his sword clattered to the floor._

Everything went black.

0o0o0o0o0

^Nico

Nico was sitting in the back of Charms, struggling to concentrate on what he was learning. His thoughts traveled to Camp Half-Blood—to Will, to Percy and Annabeth, to his cabin.

He realized that he missed being back there, with his...boyfriend...and his surrogate family. People treated him equally there, now—not like a freak, or just a son of _Hades_.

Nico shook his head minutely to try and clear it. He turned his attention back to Professor Flitwick, and tried to take some notes.

Class was about to end when, suddenly, Professor McGonagall burst into the classroom, along with Fred, George, and Lee.

Nico's head whipped around. They all looked panicked and extremely bewildered.

He knew _instantly _that something was seriously wrong.

"Professor McGonagall?" Flitwick asked politely, sounding puzzled.

"Nico di Angelo!" she said quickly. Her eyes searched the classroom quickly before settling on him. She continued in a slightly rushed voice, "Come with me. It's an emergency."

Neville, to Nico's right, looked over with a questioning face, but Nico couldn't fathom an answer. He couldn't imagine what could cause _Professor McGonagall _to look so ruffled and axious. He racked his mind for something that could cause so much panic, and...

Oh, Styx.

_Percy._

Nico immediately stood up, gathered his things, pushed in his chair, and followed Professor McGonagall out of the classroom.

For a woman her age, she could move surprisingly fast. They walked briskly through the corridors, and Nico was a little confused as to why they were heading toward the _dungeons._ He'd expected something like the hospital wing, but it wasn't the right time to ask.

McGonagall pushed a door open, but before they entered, she turned around to face them. Her lips were set in a thin line, and her expression was grave and worried.

"Weasley, Weasley, Jordan, go back to your common room."

The three of them immediately started to protest, but McGonagall wasn't having it.

"_No._ You three go back up to the common room, and stay put until your next class. Mr. di Angelo, come."

Nico turned to give the three seventh-years apologetic looks, and then walked into the Potions classroom. Professor McGonagall closed the door after them.

Nico gasped and stumbled a little at the sight of Percy on the floor in front of him. He'd never seen Percy as bad as this during a flashback, and that was obviously what was going on. He was shaking and sweating like he was ;ying right next to the sun. His fists clenched tight, pressed to his head, and his face was contorted in an expression of absolute pain. Professor Snape was standing three feet away from Percy, an uncharastically concerned expression on his face.

"Oh, Styx. Oh my gods. Percy..." Nico muttered in a daze.

He looked around to find something...anything...that could have triggered something like this. He couldn't find anything; maybe it had something to do with what someone said?

And then he could smell it.

Nico's head snapped up so fast that he heard his neck crack.

"What is it?" McGonagall asked.

Nico spoke slowly, his voice tinged with rage. "What...is...that...smell?"

Snape furrowed his eyebrows in obvious confusion, but Nico didn't care. He dropped to his knees beside Percy, whose jaw was still clenched tightly.

"_What is it?"_ Nico demanded, slightly hysterically.

"A potion," Snape said in his low, nasally voice. "A girl made a mistake with the instructions, and a potion exploded. What you smell is the remaining fumes."

_That_ was it. The smell...it smelled exactly like the air in Tartarus.

Nico laid a hand on Percy's shoulder, but the son of Poseidon didn't respond. He was shaking like crazy.

And then Percy's face cleared.

For a brief second, Nico was relieved, thinking that Percy had finally awoken from his flashback.

_No_, Nico chided himself. He studied Percy's face. It was clear, but his body was still shaking, and his breathing was irregular. _He's blacked out._

"What...what has happened?" asked Professor McGonagall in a shaky voice.

"That _smell_!" Nico growled. "It triggered a...flashback. Gods damn it, _why_? Are you serious? That stupid potion...I can smell it, it's disgusting, it's just like..."

"Flashback?" McGonagall repeated. "Like...PTSD?" Worry was creeping steadily in her voice, more pronounced by the second.

Nico ground his teeth. He hated that term, it made Percy seem crazy. Maybe Percy wasn't 100% sane 100% of the time, but that didn't mean anything was _wrong_ with him. They were all a little mad sometimes.

But, Nico knew he wouldn't be able to explain everything thoroughly in a way they could understand.

"Yes," he grit out through his tense jaw.

"Should we get him to the hospital wing?" McGonagall asked, seeming unsure of what to do.

Nico didn't think that anything from the hospital wing would help—not even nectar helped with this kind of thing very much, back at Camp Half-Blood. Yet, Nico didn't really know what to do without Annabeth or Chiron there.

"I guess so," Nico said. The volume of his voice had dropped significantly. He was feeling strangely helpless—only Annabeth really knew how to calm Percy down after a flashback, and vice-versa. He really had no idea what to do in this situation, other than be by Percy's side.

Snape took out his wand and muttered some sort of levitating charm. Percy's form rose off of the floor gracefully, his back arched slightly and his arms spread out. McGonagall pushed Percy's arms against his side so that he could fit through the door, and they all made their way to the hospital wing.

Once they were there, Madam Pomfrey, the matron, went crazy.

"What happened?" she asked urgently.

"Flashback," Nico responded, his voice almost completely devoid of emotion.

"Flashback? Wow. Erm...potions. Bring him to this bed over here—no, not that one, the one to the left...yes...Okay, where are my...oh...Calming...dreamless sleep...When was he last conscious?"

After so much talking to herself, it took Nico a second to realize that she had asked them a question.

"Maybe five minutes ago, probably a little more," McGonagall replied.

Nico sad down beside Percy's bed. He didn't move as Madam Pomfrey administered him potions. The son of Hades watched as Percy's shaking slowly receded, and his face started to look even less pained. His tense muscles eased up a little.

He knew he should be doing other things—contacting Annabeth or Will, maybe getting back to class and telling Neville what had happened (because the Gryffindor boy was sure to be burning with anxious curiosity by that point). But he wanted to be there when Percy woke up, because he knew that his friend would be extremely disoriented and scared out of his mind, and he needed to be there to calm him down.

He just hoped that Percy's mind was in a _much_ better state when it happened.

0o0o0o0o0

**Author's note:** *I think the wizards being descendants of Hecate is overused, and for some strange reason, I don't like how they try to fit wizarding logically into the Greek world. I'd rather think of them as standing alone.

I seriously considered leaving off at "Everything went black," but that seemed a bit overly evil, and you all deserve a long chapter.

My longest chapter yet! I hope you enjoy it.

I missed two days of school, so now I have a boatload of work to make up..._Fun!_ But hey, school's almost over. And I get to miss another day of school on Tuesday, since I'm taking a trip to an amusement park with some people in this Honor's Society thing. Yay!

Review for me, please. I appreciate it.


	18. Chapter 18

**DISCLAIMER:** Anything you recognize belongs to either Rick Riordan or J. K. Rowling. I own almost nothing, and seek no profit from this story.

**Author's note:** I see you all liked the last chapter. Well, I think it was my favorite, too.

William Carstairs: Sirius and Lupin were my favorites! And no, I am not continuing this onto the Deathly Hallows. I'm sorry! Percy and Nico's quest is to save Sirius, and to help Harry out, and that's all. They'll leave after the fifth year, most likely, whether they fail or succeed.

Two words: Internet problems.

0o0o0o0o0

^Harry

Percy was missing, and Nico was barely attending any of his classes.

Something was obviously wrong.

Harry did his best to keep to himself and stay out of the Americans' lives, as he had is own problems—and being banned from Quidditch to make them any better, _at all_. But it was getting harder and harder. It was now the Friday after something had to have gone wrong, as Nico was pulled out of class unceremoniously with no explanation by Professor McGonagall the previous Tuesday.

Where was Percy?

He gathered that Nico knew where he was, but nobody else had seen him. But Nico was very plainly extremely worried, and he was barely seen throughout the school.

So you can imagine the surprise Harry got when Nico showed up at the last Dumbledore's Army meeting before the Christmas holidays.

"Hey, Nico—I'm glad you're here. Is...is something wrong?" was the first thing he asked Nico when the boy had walked through the secret door leading to the Room of Requirement.

Nico hesitated, and then said, "Percy's sick."

Harry felt his heart relieve itself of a small amount of stress. He'd expected something a little more dramatic, and he was glad that nothing was severely wrong with Percy. But the word "sick" was too vague for his liking.

He opened his mouth to ask more, and then decided against it. It would make him sound nosy.

Instead, he sighed. "I hope he feels better."

"So do I," Nico muttered, nodding.

The conversation cut off as Angelina, Katie, and Alicia walked into the room, all looking very cold and breathing hard.

"Well, we've replaced you," Angelina said bluntly.

"Replaced me?" Harry asked blankly, but a second later he caught on.

Wow, that stung.

"You and Fred and George," she explained impatiently. "We've got another Seeker!"

Harry almost didn't want to know, but he threw his own thoughts away and quickly asked, "Who?"

"Ginny Weasley," Katie answered.

Harry gaped at her.

"Yeah, I know. But she's pretty good, actually. Nothing on you, of course," she added, throwing him an extremely dirty look, "but as we can't have you..."

Mustering just enough self control to bite back the incredulous, sarcastic retort that instantly sprang to his mind, he tried to ask as evenly as he could, "And what about the Beaters?"

"Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper," Alicia said dully. "Neither of them are brilliant, but compared with the rest of the idiots who turned up..."

Harry was definitely starting to feel a little sick, but the end of the depressing conversation came with the arrival of Ron, Hermione, and Neville. Neville instantly joined Nico, and they both start conversing quietly. Deciding to ignore them, Harry waited for the classroom to fill up before calling them all to order.

"Okay. I thought this evening we should just go over the things we've done so far, because it's the last meeting before the holidays and there's no point starting anything new right before a three-week break—"

"We're not doing anything new?" Smith said in a disgruntled whisper loud enough to carry through the room. "If I'd known that, I wouldn't have come..."

"Were all really sorry Harry didn't tell you, then," Fred said loudly.

Several people among the room sniggered. When Harry saw Cho laughing, he felt that odd swooping sensation in his stomach...again.

Shaking his head to clear it, Harry said, "We can practice in pairs. We'll start with the Impediment Jinx, just for ten minutes, then we can get out the cushions and try Stunning again."

They all nodded and divided obediently. Harry almost started making his way toward Neville, but he remembered that Percy wasn't present, and Nico would obviously pair with the blonde boy.

So, instead, Harry just walked around, listening to everyone cry, _"Impedimenta!"_ over and over, occasionally correcting some people, and offering praise to others. After ten minutes, as promised, they switched to Stunning.

Harry noted, with pride, that everybody was vastly improving. With that thought warming his heart, he called a halt at the end of the hour.

"You're getting really good. When we get back from the holidays we can start doing some of the big stuff—maybe even Patronuses."

There was a sudden hush, and then a buzzing of murmured excitement. People started leaving in small groups, and Harry was wishing a Happy Christmas to everyone that passed him on their way out. He had just seen that Cho was still there, and was about to go up to her, when Nico approached him, with Neville lingering behind.

"So," Nico said, his voice considerably _not _how it usually was.

Harry was immediately bewildered. "So" was a start to a casual and unnecessary conversation—the types of which he had never had with Nico. Nico simply didn't seem the type for useless chatter. With Percy gone, Nico had been more secluded than ever (with the exception of Neville Longbottom). After a few milliseconds of staring at Nico in awe, Harry managed to rein in his expression and respond, "So...?"

"What're you doing for Christmas Break?" Nico asked.

"Christmas—oh. I'm not really sure. The holidays have always been a rather odd time for me. I think I might be staying at Hogwarts, or—"

Harry just managed to stop himself before he said something about the Order. He took a deep breath, wrenching his thoughts from Grimmauld Place and Sirius, and said, "No, I think I'm staying here, unless something else comes up."

Nico nodded. "Er...cool."

"What're you doing?" Harry asked Nico conversationally in an attempt to keep the roll they were on going.

"I actually have no idea. I just asked you for the advice. Percy and I obviously can't travel all the way back to America. It would take too long, and it's not really worth that small amount of visiting time before school starts up again. Are Christmases at Hogwarts fun?"

Harry could not help but noting how differently they talked than us—that is, the British. Of course, the accents were blatantly different, but even the way the Americans formed their sentences was odd and rather informal.

"Er, they're great," Harry said, less enthusiastic than he should have been. The winter holidays at Hogwarts _were_ great, but the thought of spending them at Hogwarts that year, for some reason, made his throat constrict a little. Grimmauld Place was definitely a very dismal place to be spending Christmas, but leaving Sirius there in his old, despised house was cruel. But would he be allowed? Even if Grimmauld Place was safe, Harry knew that Hogwarts was the safest place anyone could reside at. "They go all-out with the decorations and stuff, what with the trees and baubles and—"

"Baubles?" Nico asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

Harry stared at the him. "You...don't know what baubles are?"

Nico cast his eyes away for a second. "Maybe _baubles _are called something different in America," he said defensively.

"Okay," Harry said. "Well, they go on the trees and...pretty much everywhere...That's not the point. Christmas at Hogwarts is amazing. You would like it; anyone would like it."

"That's great," Nico said. "I'll tell it to Percy—I think he would like staying here for Christmas."

It was obvious that, for some reason, talking about Percy was painful for him.

"Harry," Nico continued, "I think there's someone I'd like you to meet. Well, two people. They're coming today to help Percy with his sickness. I mean, I know the Hermione would get along great with one of them, and the other—"

"Yeah, sure, who are they?" Harry interrupted, saving Nico from babbling.

"Oh, their names are Annabeth and Will. Annabeth is Percy's girlfriend."

"And Will is...?"

Nico stared at Harry for a moment, his eyes calculating. "Will is experienced in helping Percy after—with his illness. Illnesses," he corrected.

Harry didn't have to be a genius to figure out that Nico wasn't saying the full truth. He had cut off his sentences twice and corrected himself a few other times. Harry didn't say anything, though, because Nico was distressed, and he didn't want to make it any worse than it already was.

"Okay. I...look forward to meeting them."

"Great," Nico said, grinning.

Harry turned back to where Cho Chang had been standing before, but she had already left.

0o0o0o0o0

Harry was headed back to the common room a few hours later when he literally walked straight into another person.

"Sorry!" Harry said quickly as he reflexively shot his hand out to catch her wrist before she fell. The girl stumbled for a moment before regaining her balance. She was embarrassingly taller than Harry, but one he got a good look at her face, it became apparent that she was a couple years older, at least. Her hair was very blonde, and very curly, pulled back into a ponytail. She had thin (in a good way), aristocratic features, and stunning grey eyes.

"I'm really sorry about that..." Harry muttered. "Erm—hello."

"Hello."

Harry noted that the girl definintely wasn't British—he hadn't heard enough to confirm American, but that was what it sounded like.

"I'm sorry, too—I wasn't really looking where I was going." _Definitely American,_ Harry thought as the girl quickly corrected herself, "Actually, I think I was looking _too_ hard at where I was going to notice any people approaching."

Despite the fact that this didn't make any sense, Harry nodded and pretended to know exactly what she was talking about.

Her features lifted as if she had just gotten an idea and she changed topics. "Actually, could you help me? I just got here, and I was wondering if you could direct my friend and I to the—"

She cut off as she turned to her left and seemed to realize that whoever her friend was indeed _wasn't _there. She frowned and took a few steps back in order to look in the corridor that she had just turned out of.

"Will?" she called. When nobody answered, she tried again, "Will!"

Again, silence—well, except for all the people walking around them, chattering.

The girl sighed and turned back toward Harry. "I can't decide if it's me or him who got lost..."

The blonde trailed off, staring at Harry's face for the first time.

Harry instantly flattened his fringe over his forehead nervously, hoping that she had not seen the scar. He didn't really like people gawping at his face wherever he went.

"Wow."

That was all the girl said.

"Er...is there a problem?" Harry asked, lowering his hand and regarding the girl carefully.

"No, sorry, you just...you reminded me of someone...you look _exactly_ like him when he was thirteen, save for the eyes..." the girl muttered, trailing off as she got lost in her own thoughts.

Harry didn't bother to ask who—or what—she was talking about. He did, however, grimace at the comment—Harry was fifteen, and he was reminding her of a thirteen-year-old?

Just as he was about to say something about this, a boy—looking around Harry's age, maybe sixteen—approached the blonde from behind and put a hand on her shoulder. He was blonde, like her, but it was a more of a golden color. He had sky-blue eyes, and an extremely sunny (almost _too_ sunny) smile.

The girl turned around. "Will. Hey. I was just about to ask..." She looked back to Harry apologetically. "I'm sorry, I don't even know your name."

Harry didn't exactly want to tell them his name, but he didn't fancy coming off as rude to these strangers. "It's Harry Potter."

The girl raised her eyebrows. "Oh...hello, Harry. So, I take it you know who Percy is? I'm Annabeth Chase, by the way."

"Will Solace," Will interjected.

"Hello, Annabeth, Will," Harry greeted. "And...Percy _Jackson_?"

"Yes," they answered simultaneously.

"Could you direct us to him? The infirmary. Or the...er...hospital wing," Will corrected.

Harry stared at them for a few seconds. They were both giving him odd looks, but it wasn't anything like how other people always regarded him. Sighing, Harry said, "Well, you take that corridor over there and go back down to the first floor. And then take your first left, and then your first right turn...You know what? Just...follow me."

Will looked relieved and Annabeth grateful.

Harry tried not to listen to Annabeth's and Will's conversation as they walked, but he really couldn't help it. They did have the sense to keep their voices down, but Harry was close enough to hear them almost without any trouble.

"I'm glad Nico contacted Chiron...he told me that it was worse than usual this time. He still hasn't woken up, and it's been a few days, Annabeth. This is really..."

"Will, be quiet. I don't really want to cross that bridge until we get there, and it's not that far away," Annabeth said to Will.

"Okay," said Will. "Well...are you excited about seeing him in person after so long?" Will asked excitedly.

Annabeth huffed. "I know you're glad to see Nico, Will, but Percy is unconscious in an infirmary. Do you really think I'm thrilled to have to come because of such awful circumstances?"

Harry casually glanced behind himself and caught sight of Will blushing and looking away from Annabeth.

"Sorry, Annabeth...but you still have to be glad about seeing Percy in person, right?"

"Of course I am," Annabeth said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Harry decided that Annabeth—along with most of the other girls he'd met—was very confusing.

"I mean, come on, Will, I haven't seem him in...about two months. That's the longest we've ever been apart since—" Annabeth stopped abruptly.

Will's voice was comforting. "This is exactly why you should be excited to see him. If he had a Tar—"

The boy cut off as Annabeth gave a loud, _"Shhhh!"_

"You do realize that Harry is listening to everything we're saying, right?" Annabeth said to Will.

Harry blushed, immediately turned around, and thew his hands up in defense. "I'm sorry about that, it's just...you're right behind me, and—"

"It's okay, Harry, I don't blame you. It was foolish of us to talk at such a loud level," Annabeth said in a weird, formal voice.

Harry shook his head and turned back. They were almost to the first floor—they had been on the seventh when they started. Annabeth and Will walked at a surprisingly fast pace (they were able to subconsciously keep up with Harry). Harry was used to walking quickly, because most people at Hogwarts had to rush to get to their classes on time.

As they approached the hospital wing, Harry realized that he hadn't seen Percy in..._days_. He didn't exactly want to find out what kind of state Percy was in, and he didn't want to imagine anything of the sort, either.

They doors to the wing were now in front of them.

"Well," Harry said, gesturing toward them. "This is it."

Annabeth studied the doors, and Will eyed them with—was that excitement, or nerves?

"Thank you," they both said at the same time.

Harry made to leave, but Will and Annabeth shared a glance and the girl said, "You can come in, if you like."

_That _made Harry freeze. Why would they want Harry in there? After a few moments of thinking, Harry shook his head and muttered, "No, but...thanks."

The two Americans shrugged. "Okay."

And Harry made his way to the Gryffindor common room...back up the several flights of stairs.

He sighed heavily. _Oh, great._

0o0o0o0o0

^Annabeth

Percy had told Annabeth before that he and Nico were having trouble getting Harry (and his friends) to trust them. Annabeth had tried to help them out a little on their way to the infirmary—or the _hospital wing_. So, she had let Harry hear her and Will's conversation (until Will almost mentioned that hellhole by name), and then she offered for him to come and see Percy.

Sadly, Harry had refused. Annabeth hadn't been able to read the look on his face very well—it seemed that he didn't want to invade their privacy, but he was also apprehensive in some way? Annabeth was usually good at reading people, but she knew she had been distracted by Harry's face.

The first time Annabeth had really taken her time to _look_ at Harry, he had reminded her _so much _of Percy when he was almost fourteen, that her mind had gone momentarily blank.

Will and Annabeth made their ways into the infir—_hospital wing. _She honestly had no idea what she was doing or where she was going, but it helped that Nico was standing in the hospital wing, waiting for them.

"Hi," Nico said grimly.

Annabeth was slightly impatient, and she _really _wanted to see Percy, but she managed to respond calmly, "Hello."

"Hey," Will said back.

They stood in silence for a moment, until Nico said, "Well, Percy's this way."

"What's the report on him?" Will asked.

"He hasn't been conscious ever since the...flashback," Nico said resignedly. "His heartbeat is normal, though it speeds up every once in a while, according to Madam Pomfrey. She said something about brainwaves? Honestly, Will, you'll have to ask her about it. I was so...out of it when I asked her about this stuff." Nico sighed deeply, and shook his head as if to clear it.

Annabeth tried not to panic—it was illogical and it wouldn't help anyone if she panicked. But, she couldn't deny that she was extremely worried. The longest she or Percy had been unconscious after a flashback before this incident was only about three hours. But, days? That was concerning.

She tried to clear her face of all traces of panic, but nevertheless she could feel it in the pit of her stomach and beginning to take hold of her chest.

"Can I speak to this...Madam Pom...Pompre..."

"Madam Pomfrey," Nico corrected Will. "And, I think so. She should either be attending to that third-year Slytherin over there, or to Percy."

"Slytherin?" Annabeth asked, vaguely remembering hearing the term somewhere before.

"I can explain everything later," Nico said dismissively. "Here, this way..."

Nico led them over to a section at the back right corner of the hospital. Annabeth couldn't see any of it, due to the fact that it had a white curtain drawn around the two sides that weren't wall. She held her breath as Nico pulled back the curtain and held it open for the other two.

Annabeth went in first, and her eyes immediately traveled to Percy. His breathing was slow and mostly even, but his face was nowhere near serene or calm. His brow was furrowed in that adorable way it always did when he was worried about something, and his nose was scrunched as if in some sort of pain. His hair was disheveled, spread out around his head against his white pillow, and eyes were closed, creating a shadow of his lashes against his cheeks.

"Oh, gods," Annabeth murmured, too quiet for anyone else to hear. She moved toward Percy, her hand stretched out subconsciously in front of her.

"Excuse me—may I ask who you are?" a stern voice asked from behind.

Annabeth turned around, as did Will. Nico greeted the woman with a wave of his hand, and Will studied her closely. Annabeth just attempted to smile and turned back around to stare at Percy.

"Hello, Madam Pomfrey. This is Will Solace—"

"Hi," Annabeth heard Will say.

"—and that's Annabeth Chase," Nico finished.

Annabeth twisted her head around and said, "Hello."

"Oh, these are you friends from America? Yes, you're Will Solace. We should talk," Madam Pomfrey said softly.

"Yes," Will said, nodding. "We should."

They both traveled around to the other side of the bed. Madam Pomfrey rested her hand on Percy's forehead for a second, before writing something down on a paper next to his bed—with a quill. Who used quills anymore?

Shaking her head, Annabeth asked, "Is there anything..._unusual_ going on with Percy?"

Madam Pomfrey tilted her head and said, "Only occasionally. Every once in a while his brainwaves spasm. They send shock waves, as if he's panicking about something. At those same times, his breathing and heart rate speed up."

Annabeth knew instantly what that meant, and her throat constricted painfully. Apparently, Will caught on to it, too, so she was saved from voicing her observation.

"That means he's still—" He cut off abruptly and looked at Nico. For a few moments, they had a whispered conversation, and then Will continued, "He's still having dreams, or flashbacks. We need to get him to wake up."

Madam Pomfrey's eye twitched irritably, but the rest of her face kept calm. "If I knew how to wake him up, Mr. Solace, I would have already. Too much sleep—even in this coma state—can definitely be harmful." She sighed wearily. "I've tried spells and potions, and nothing is working. I've never seen anything like it."

"I would think not," Will muttered. "Just...let me think about this," he added, narrowing his eyes at Percy. "Is he responsive at all to the...to us?"

"He shows signs of it, but they're not big enough to establish as real reaction to his surroundings. His finger might twitch when Nico says something to him, or something particularly loud happens in the infirmary, but he doesn't wake fully—nowhere close to it."

Will seemed somewhat satisfied with this answer. After a few seconds of what _looked _like thinking, he said, "I think I have a simple solution to this problem."

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. _Already?_

"Annabeth, you need to speak to him."

"What?" she asked, knowing exactly what he said but needing to reassure herself.

"Speak to him. Back at...home, you two always help each other out with these things. Being in close proximity to each other seems to somehow prevent nightmares, and you're always calmer around each other."

"Most of the time," Nico said, moving to leaning against the wall.

"Wait, honey, you get these flashbacks, too?" Madam Pomfrey asked, sending a concerned look toward Annabeth.

Annabeth sighed and nodded. "Yes, but I've never gone unconscious for more than three hours after. This is...completely new."

And Annabeth didn't like _new._

"Go on, Annabeth," Will urged. "We can leave if you want."

Annabeth opened her mouth to refuse, but she stopped and thought about it. Talking to an unconscious Percy around other people definitely made her uncomfortable.

"That would be good," Annabeth said quietly, starting to approach her boyfriend.

Nico, Will, and Madam Pomfrey filed out of the room (or, the curtained area).

Annabeth was standing at Percy's side. She took his hand in hers, sat on the edge, and took a deep breath.

Closed her eyes.

Steadied herself.

"Percy?" she asked in an uncharacteristically timid whisper. "Percy, listen to me."

0o0o0o0o0

**Author's note: **I "graduated" eighth grade last Thursday. GUESS _FREAKING_ WHAT? _**READ THIS—I LOVE IT:**_

My teachers gave me an award at the eighth grade graduation—IN FRONT OF A THOUSAND PEOPLE (no exaggeration)—entitled the "Hermione Granger Award." This was even approved by the principle and the rest of the eighth grade staff at my school. Because I'm an avid reader, an "amazing writer," and a HUGE Harry Potter fan.

I AM NOT ASHAMED! THAT WAS ALMOST THE BEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE!

This award is in the process of being framed. Oh. My. Gods.

It was amazing. Seriously. Siriusly. Wow.


	19. Chapter 19

**DISCLAIMER:** Anything you recognize belongs to either Rick Riordan or J. K. Rowling. I own almost nothing, and seek no profit from this story.

**Author's note:** I shall grant your request for Percabeth :)

I am most definitely NOT SORRY for my late update. I just got home from New York—IT WAS AMAZING

OMGS. It's great. Beautiful. Carnegie Hall was fun—everyone there was REALLY good. It was intimidating. But now I'm back, and I'm writing, so be happy that I actually got it to you this fast. Seriously.

A little complaint about my flight home: It was delayed thirty minutes, and then canceled, and rescheduled for eight hours later. And then the eight-hours-later flight was delayed another two hours. So...seriously. New York airports/flights suck.

0o0o0o0o0

^Percy

Things were muddled and distant. Everything Percy could see was distorted and blurry, as if he were looking through a curtain of falling water. He could distantly hear yelling, pleading, talking, and echoes of laughs. Most of them sounded like either Annabeth or Grover, but there were a few of what he thought could be Nico, and possibly Frank or Hazel. All of Percy's senses were dull.

The pictures and memories of the people he loved started getting clearer. His mom was smiling up at him, her eyes sparkling at the sight of her son. Paul stood next to her, a fond expression on his face.

They disappeared, and there were Jason and Nico. Jason was laughing at Nico, and Nico looked extremely irritated. They changed to Hazel, Frank, and Leo, who were all arguing with one another, trying to keep smiles off of their faces. The three of them faded, and Piper stood next to Annabeth. They chatted idly, grinning at each other.

It suddenly zoomed in. Annabeth's face was right in front of Percy's, their breath mingled, their lips dangerously close to one another's. Percy looked up to see Annabeth's eyes closed. Just as he was about to lean in and close his, too—Annabeth's eyes shot open, revealing her stunning grey irises.

"Percy," she said. But something about the way she said it—it was so _not Annabeth _that Percy struggled to believe that it was actually her.

"Percy, listen to me," she said, stronger now.

Of course he would listen to her—he always did (unless she started babbling about architecture—but who could _actually_ listen to that?). But, for some reason, it was hard. Her voice was muffled by something, like she was speaking into a pillow. Percy could understand, but he had to strain his ears to hear.

"Percy, wake up."

_What?_

He hadn't been aware that he _needed _to wake up. What was she talking about?

"Percy, please." Her voice was steady, but there was a hint of desperation hidden in there.

"You have to wake up." She was staring at him with her intense eyes, but her mouth wasn't moving. Percy couldn't take his gaze away from the captivating grey. They were hard and stern, but—at the same time—full of love.

Percy heard her sigh. "I'm not going to beg you, Seaweed Brain. Wake up, or I'll kick your ass. I swear to all the gods."

The son of Poseidon wanted to laugh at this, but he couldn't make himself do it.

That was when he realized that he was—involuntarily—completely still.

Maybe he really _was_ asleep.

"Do you know what Thalia would say to you right now?" Annabeth asked, her voice hard, but laced with humor. It was getting clearer. She waited a few seconds, but when Percy didn't say anything, she let out a short laugh. "Yeah, neither do I. I'm pretty sure she would insult you, order you to wake up, threaten you, and then insult you again. Do you really want me to do it for her?"

_True, _Percy thought. No, he didn't, but it would be funny if she did.

"Perseus Jackson, answer me. Wake your lazy ass up and answer me, now."

Percy noticed the desperation in her voices kept getting clearer. She was obviously very worried about him, and he hated to hear that.

So, with that thought, he gathered what strength he could and started to try and pull out of the dream.

"Percy, if you don't—"

The voice cut off abruptly. He could hear murmuring that obviously wasn't meant specifically for him. And then Annabeth's voice rang out again, stronger and clearer than ever, as he stared into her grey eyes.

"Percy, be strong. I don't even need to tell you that—or I shouldn't need to. You're the strongest person I know. So, don't stop now! Wake up, Percy. I know you won't do it for yourself, so do it for me. Do it for your mom, and Paul. Percy, come on, wake up!"

With that last word, Percy finally opened his eyes in the physical world.

The first the he saw was Annabeth's hair. It hung down from the side of her head, tickling his cheek. The daughter of Athena wasn't even looking at him. Her eyes were trained on her—_their_—hands. They were intertwined, and Annabeth was holding on tight.

Just as Annabeth took a breath to start talking again, Percy lifted his hand—the one that wasn't in Annabeth's—turned her head gently to look at him, and pulled her down into a kiss.

Annabeth froze, and then she melted into Percy. The boy wrapped his arms around Annabeth, and Annabeth leaned down further and rested her hands on the sides of Percy's head. They stayed like that for...Percy wasn't even sure how long. Their lips moved against one another's, their eyes closed, their hearts swelling with joy.

"Ahem!" came a stern, only slightly uncomfortable voice from a few feet away.

Percy and Annabeth broke apart, and only then did Percy fully realize what was going on.

"What are you doing here?" Percy asked his girlfriend, sitting up in his bed.

"Nice to see you, too, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth scoffed, turning away from him to look at the woman in the room with them.

Percy shook his head, bewildered. "Where—what—?"

"You're in the hospital wing," the woman said.

The son of Poseidon raised his eyebrows. "The hospital wing? Why would...oh."

It had, all of the sudden, come back to him. _All _of it. Percy let out a breath and pressed his hands to his head, which was starting to form a headache.

_Don't think about it,_ Percy chided himself. But he couldn't really help it. He tried to repress a shudder, but it didn't work. He felt shivers wrack his spine for a second, and he let out another breath and shook out his arms.

"Hey," Annabeth said gently, grabbing his hand again. "You're here. Safe."

Percy nodded shakily. He took a few more breaths before sitting up straighter and closing his eyes tightly to try and lessen the pain of the worsening headache.

"Is it your head?" asked the woman. Percy guessed she was the nurse, or whatever you called them in the UK. "Here, I'll get you some pain-relief potion."

"I don't—" Percy started, but Annabeth rolled her eyes and the nurse said sternly, "No arguing."

Percy grudgingly accepted the foul-smelling potion and drained it. He felt his headache recede somewhat, but it didn't help much. Instead of pointing this out, however, he just set the empty vial on the bedside table and smiled his thanks at the nurse.

"Oh," the woman said, seeming to remember something that had slipped her mind before. "You wouldn't know who I am. I am the matron here at Hogwarts, Madam Pomfrey."

"Hello, Madam Pomfrey," Percy said, bowing his head slightly. "You probably already know this, but I'm Percy Jackson."

"Indeed, I do." Madam Pomfrey smiled, nodding.

The three of them fell into silence for a moment, which Percy's mind automatically seized in order to go into unnecessary questions and worrying.

Percy _did not _want to tell Madam Pomfrey about what had happened. His "flashbacks" made him feel weak, though he knew that they did not define him. He didn't think Annabeth weak for having them, but something was different for him.

He hurriedly pulled himself out of these depressing thoughts before his ADHD mind could take him off to some severely depressing daydream landscape where he withered away with only his musings to keep him company (or do worse).

"So, what have I missed?" Percy asked casually, leaning back on one hand and keeping the other in his girlfriend's.

Pomfrey took a breath, and turned to him. "A few days, unfortunately."

Percy numbly felt his jaw drop and his eyes widen against his will.

"_A few days?"_ Percy repeated in horror.

"Yes, today is Friday," Madam Pomfrey informed.

Percy felt his stomach clench in horror. After the "little incident" with Hera, Percy had always been terrified at losing even a second more of his life than he had to. _Six months _of his life had been taken from him without his permission, and he had been really angry. But, deep down, it terrified him. The life of a demigod was hard, and Percy was honestly surprised the he and Annabeth had made it this far. Six months, for a demigod, was a significant piece of life. He'd even hated that _three weeks _had been taken in order to arrive in London at the train station. Three more days was too much for him, even if it _was _only three days.

His breath was speeding up, he realized, and he forced it to slow to a normal pace again.

"Okay..." he said slowly, his voice slightly strangled. He cleared his throat before continuing, "My classes?"

Annabeth turned to him. "Oh my gods, did you really just ask about your classes?" She reached over with her free hand and waved it slowly in front of Percy's face. "Are you sure you're Percy Jackson?"

Percy rolled his eyes. "Yes, I'm sure. You have no idea, Annabeth—the teachers here are _scary_. There's this one—he's kind of like a mixture of the old Nico and Thorn. Scowly and closed off, but also very menacing and extremely condescending."

Annabeth just staring at him.

"What?" he asked.

The daughter of Athena drew her eyebrows together and turned a little more to face Percy.

"I think you're forming an accent," she said, sounding unsure of what she thought about it.

"What? No, I'm not."

"Yeah, you are. It's not too obvious, but it's there. If you stay here too much longer, it'll be prominent, I can tell."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "You don't sound too happy about that."

Annabeth tilted her head, smirking. "It's different, but it's hot. It'll wear off once you're back with us."

Percy couldn't help the grin that slid onto his face. "You really think so, Miss Chase?"

"Would I have said it if I didn't, Mister Jackson?"

"I believe not."

"Well then, there's your answer."

Percy smiled and started to pull his girlfriend toward him, until Madam Pomfrey came up to them and thrust a potion toward him. He took it, looking curiously at it for a second before asking, "What is this?"

"It's a Calming Draught. You're shaking, Jackson. This should help."

"I'm not—" But he cut off as he looked down at his hand. The potion in the vial he had been given was wobbling, indicating that his hands were, indeed, shaking. He sighed and brought the potion to his nose, sniffing it, before making a face and pulling it away.

Madam Pomfrey huffed—a mixture of annoyance and amusement. "I know it smells bad, and it tastes worse, but it's effective. Take it."

Percy—not before crinkling his nose in distaste—downed the potion and shuddered a little at the cold sensation traveling down his chest. He assumed it had something to do with the magic.

Either way, Percy felt himself stop shaking, and a sense of peace settled over him.

He leaned back against his pillows, still loosely holding Annabeth's hand, and asked, "Is Nico in classes?"

"Oh—Nico and Will are...well, they should be right outside. I completely forgot. I'll go get them."

Annabeth stood up and poked her head outside of the white curtain, murmured something that Percy couldn't hear, and came back in with Nico and Will following.

"Hey, you're awake," Will said, stating the obvious.

Percy nodded and said, "I noticed. Hey," he added, looking to the two blondes, "it's been three days, right? How did you get here so fast?"

Nico rolled his eyes, and Will said, "We took a plane."

"You took a—oh." He'd just realized that Annabeth and Will _could _take a plane without worrying about Zeus blasting them out of the sky. Percy and Nico were sons of the wrong gods in the Big Three—it was obviously more dangerous for them.

"Yep, a plane. So, how are you feeling?" Will asked him, coming closer to Percy's bedside.

"Er..." Percy thought about his answer for a minute. His head, despite the first potion Pomfrey had given him, was still pounding, though it was slightly duller than before. "Calm," he finally responded.

Annabeth laughed. "That might be due to the 'Calming Draught' that Madam Pomfrey gave him."

Will tilted his head, scrutinizing Percy. After a few moments, Percy shifted uncomfortably under the son of Apollo's gaze, Will said, "You're in pain."

Percy let out a breath and rolled his eyes. "I'm fine. How long are you two staying?" he asked, in a feeble attempt to change the subject.

"We're staying over Christmas break. And yes, you _are _in pain, so don't even try the 'I'm fine' crap with me. What is it? Your stomach? Head?"

"Over the Christmas holidays? That's great! Have you toured the castle yet?"

Nico, who had been silent, said, "No, they just got here not even an hour ago. They came straight to the hospital wing when they arrived."

"Well, not _straight _to the hospital wing. We might have gotten a little lost," Annabeth admitted.

"I think ending up on the seventh floor is somewhat more than a _little _lost," Will snorted, smiling brightly.

Percy laughed. "Nico and I will have to give you two a tour. It's great."

"I know," Annabeth said, a hint of excitement in her voice. Percy knew where she was going with this, and that was what he had been intending to do—change the subject to architecture. Annabeth continued, "The material—the stone archways everywhere—and the structure of the turrets are amazing..."

Annabeth carried on for a bit, until she finally noticed that nobody was paying attention to anything she was saying. She sighed and put her hands, with which she had been gesticulating wildly, down. "You know, you can at least _pretend _to listen."

"Not really," the other three all said simultaneously.

Annabeth huffed.

"Well, Jackson, I feel contented releasing you—but I did get a message from Professor McGonagall, and she would like to speak with you. So, if I were you, I would make my way there, and snappish."

"Why would Professor McGonagall want to see me?" Percy asked, confused. He had been unconscious for the last three days, apparently, so what could he have possibly done?

"I suggest you ask her," Madam Pomfrey said.

Percy made his way out of the white curtain surrounding his used-to-be hospital bed. Annabeth, Will, and Nico followed him out of the hospital wing.

"I take it you don't like this...Professor McGonagall?" Annabeth asked, grinning.

Percy turned to her. "It's not that I don't _like _her, it's just..." He trailed off as he realized that Nico was struggling to hold in his laughter. "What's so funny?"

"McGonagall is _scary_," Nico said, smirking uncharacteristically. "And I'm the son of _Hades_, so that has to say something, right? But I think she'd like you, Annabeth."

Annabeth had put on a stern sort of face. "You don't mean _scary_," she chided. "You mean that she's a good teacher? You know, one that respects her students but doesn't let them get out of hand?" she added, turning to Percy with her eyebrows raised.

"Hey, I didn't say anything!" Percy said, putting his hands up in surrender. "I didn't _do _anything, either, by the way."

Annabeth scoffed. "I beg to differ."

"Mister Jackson."

The four of them turned at the same time toward the voice. It was Professor McGonagall—she was holding a roll of parchment in her left hand and her lit wand in the other.

"Professor McGonagall," Percy responded in the most polite voice he could manage.

"I would like to speak with you, if you don't mind," McGonagall said, ruffling the paper in her left hand a little. Percy looked at it for a second, wondering if it had anything to do with what she wanted to talk about.

The son of Poseidon cleared his throat. "Okay."

Annabeth grinned as he past her and said, "I knew it."

"I'm sure you did."

Percy left the other three standing in the corridor outside the hospital wing as he followed Professor McGonagall to what he assumed would be her office. Once they were there, McGonagall opened the door and said, in her usual stern voice, "Sit."

Percy blew out a short, quiet breath and sat. He watched as McGonagall closed the door and walked around the desk to sit in the chair opposite Percy.

They looked at each other for longer than Percy was comfortable with.

"Well, there's no reason to look like that," McGonagall finally said, shifting in her chair and picking up the paper she had been previously holding again. "I would like to speak with you about _this_."

Percy leaned forward and studied the parchment in her hand for a moment. It took him less than three seconds to figure out that it wasn't in English, less than a second after that to figure out it was actually Greek, and a little over four seconds after _that _to remember that he had turned a Greek essay into Professor McGonagall a while ago.

"I only recently got around to marking these," McGonagall explained, setting the parchment down and sliding it toward Percy. "I have to say..."

Percy took the paper and stared at his name on the top. He suddenly almost regretted turning in his paper in Greek—almost. Yeah, he didn't regret it was he saw the "E" written in dark green ink at the top, right next to his name.

The son of the sea cringed as McGonagall went on with her sentence—he was ready for the questions.

"I am impressed with your work," Professor McGonagall finished.

"You—what?" Percy said perplexedly.

"I had to go to a colleague of mine to figure out what language your assignment was in. Greek—ancient Greek. It was surprising, to say the least. Greek is a dead language, so tell me, how do you know how to speak it?"

Percy sighed. He had felt it coming—the questions that he would have to answer with half-truths. He did it to Paul for a long time before he and his mom told him everything. Percy never liked telling all the lies necessary to keep his secret—they made him feel unclean, and guilty. But he had long since figured out that wherever he went, he would have to keep doing it.

"My dad is Greek," Percy said truthfully.

_Well, that's all for the truth_, he thought sadly.

"He never really told me why he spoke Greek—I know it's a dead language. But...he was born there, in Greece, and Greek was my first language. I'm better at writing it than English. With English, I'm dyslexic, but with Greek, everything's fine," Percy invented. He'd never had a _teacher_ ask him about these things, because he'd never turned in Greek papers to them before, so all of this was new.

"Well, Mister Jackson, I had Professor Flitwick tell me a charm to translate it to English, and it turned out that this is very good work."

Percy wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but McGonagall's thin lips seemed to turn up a miniscule amount at the sides. Had he made Professor McGonagall _smile_?

_Someone crank up the music—this is cause for celebration._

"Now, some of the translations were somewhat...rough, but this is still good work. So, if you would like, you are allowed to turn in the rest of your assignments from me in Greek."

Percy huffed in an excited, disbelieving way. "Really?"

McGonagall raised a thin eyebrow. "Yes, really, Mister Jackson. Now, I suggest you keep up this good work if you keep writing in this dead language."

_Oh, _Percy thought, _she'll play it that way?_ He saw right through the "dead language" excuse. She was tricking him into working harder.

"Yes, ma'am," Percy said, bowing his head slightly.

They both sat in silence for a few moments.

"Well," McGonagall said sharply, "is there something you're waiting for?"

"Oh, no," Percy said, standing up from his chair. "I'll just...yeah. I'll see you in class."

"I'm sure you will," was the last thing Percy heard from her before the door to her office shut behind him.

0o0o0o0o0

^Nico

Nico sighed as he and Will walked into the fifth-year Gryffindor dormitory together.

"It looks like someone set up a bed for you," he guessed, pointing toward the new, empty bed on the far right of the room.

"Are you really that tired?" Will asked, staring at his bed. Nico assumed that he'd rather sleep in the one at his cabin back at Camp Half-Blood. "I'm not sure I want to..."

"They're surprisingly comfortable," Nico said, shrugging.

"That's not what I meant."

"I know it's not what you meant."

Will took a heavy breath. "Yeah. Well...I'll just...go to sleep, now."

"You do that."

Nico was about to turn around when Will suddenly reached out and grabbed him gently by his wrist. The son of Hades stared at it for a moment, before relaxing and looking back up to Will.

"What?"

"I have a bad feeling," Will said. "It's some sort of sickness. I don't know...but it's in this room. Call it an Apollo thing—it's just a feeling. I could be wrong." Will eyes cast downward for a second, and then he shook his head slightly and looked back up with a sunny smile on his face. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Sleep well." The blonde gave Nico a one-armed hug.

"Don't I always?" Nico said wryly, turning toward his bed.

"Of course."

0o0o0o0o0

It felt like only moments later when Nico was awoken by someone shoving his arm—too hard to be joking, and too soft to hurt him in any way.

"What in Tartarus—" Nico started to snap at the person standing above him, until he realized who it was.

"Nico," Will said, a very worried expression on his face. "Something's wrong with Harry."

The quest immediately came to his mind. "What? What is it?"

Will moved away to let Nico stand from his bed. He halted as black spots swirled in his vision as a result of standing up too quickly, but Will just grabbed his hand and led a half-blind Nico to Harry's bedside.

"Harry," Ron was saying, shoving the boy's arm in the same way that Will had done with Nico, but not as successful. "Harry, come on."

Harry was squeezing his eyes shut much harder than someone would in peaceful sleep. The black-haired boy was muttering and shaking, and his sweat dampened the sheets surrounding him. Nico had a sudden vision of Percy doing something of the same on the floor of the Potions dungeon, but he pushed it aside in favor of helping in the task of trying to wake Harry up.

Finally, after a few moments of being unsuccessful, Ron resorted to yelling.

"Harry! HARRY!"

Nico cringed at the volume of Ron's voice—_that _would probably wake up the whole male side of the tower. However, if it woke Harry up, Nico wouldn't really care.

At last, Harry opened his eyes. Nico was horrified at the look in them—there was pure terror, and some sort of sickening hunger deep in the emerald of his irises. It only took a millisecond after for Harry to realize some sort of extreme pain he was in, though Nico couldn't guess from what.

Harry wriggled his arms out of his sheets and clutched at his head, harder than was probably healthy. Nico looked up at Will for guidance, but Will was still analyzing Harry. The son of Hades was at a loss for what to do.

Right when Nico was about to step closer, Harry rolled and retched over the side of the bed that he was on. Nico grimaced and took a step back instead.

"He's really ill," Neville said in a scared voice. "Should we call someone?"

"Yes," Will said immediately, as Ron tried to get his attention again.

Harry pushed himself up in his bed, an expression of blinding pain on his face.

"Your dad," Harry struggled to get out. It looked like he was having trouble breathing. "Your dad's...been attacked..."

_That _did not sound good.

"What?" Ron said uncomprehendingly.

Nico resisted the urge to snap at Ron as Harry continued desperately, "Your dad! He's been bitten, it's serious, there was blood everywhere..."

"I'm going for help," Neville said, and he turned and ran out of the dormitory.

Ron was looking more worried, now. "Harry, mate, you...you were just dreaming..."

"No!" Harry said fervently, anger and desperation in his voice. "It wasn't a dream...not an ordinary dream...I was there, I saw it...I _did _it..."

Nico turned and gave his best death glare to Seamus and Dean, who had been muttering on the other side of the room. Seamus flinched and immediately backed off, and Dean cast a half-scared, half-apologetic look his way.

When Nico turned back, Harry looked like he was about to puke again, but Will rushed forward and took Harry's right hand in his, placing it on his chest.

"Breathe, Harry," Will said quickly. "Breathe with me. Come on."

Harry's breathing slowed slightly, and it turned a slightly more normal shade than the pale, flushed green he had been turning.

"What hurts?" Will asked, searching his face.

Harry shook his head, doubling over in pain again.

"Harry," Ron tried uncertainly, "you're not well. Neville's gone for help..."

"I'm fine!" Harry choked out, his hand falling from Will's grip and curling into the bedsheets. He gritted his teeth before continuing, "There's nothing wrong with me, it's your dad you've got to worry about—we need to find out where he is—he's bleeding like mad—I was—it was a huge snake..."

Nico drew in his eyebrows at Harry's second slip. _I _did _it, _Harry had said. And then he had almost said _I was..._Was he about to say that _he _was a huge snake, or something?

He had no idea what to make of it. Four minutes passed before Neville finally came back in, with Professor McGonagall right behind him.

"Over here, Professor..."

McGonagall hurried to Harry's bedside, and Nico stepped back so that she could get closer. She looked distinctly ruffled—she was still in her pajamas (dressing gown, whatever they call them in the UK), and her glasses weren't sitting straight on her face. She didn't seem to care as she moved toward Harry with a concerned look gracing her usually stern features.

"What is it, Potter? Where does it hurt?"

Nico would have thought the way Harry was clutching his forehead would have made that pretty obvious, but who was he to contradict the professor?

Despite the pain obviously showing in his expression, Harry shook his head and sat up as he said, "It's Ron's dad. He's been attacked by a snake and it's serious, I saw it happen."

_So...Ron's father had been attacked by a snake, and Harry had almost slipped and said he _was _a huge snake? _It made sense, but then it didn't. Why would Harry make such a big deal out of something that was probably just a dream?

Then again, _demigod_ dreams always meant something more than just your average fantasy world—they were never about sheep jumping over clouds, and if they were, then it was probably some sort of crazy metaphor that only the gods and children of Athena could make sense of.

"What do you mean, you saw it happen?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"I don't know...I was asleep and then I was there..."

"You mean you dreamed this?"

"No!" said Harry angrily. He clenched his teeth and went on, "I was having a dream at first about something completely different, something stupid...and then this interrupted it. It was real, I didn't imagine it. Mr. Weasley was asleep on the floor and he was attacked by a gigantic snake, there was a load of blood, he collapsed, someone's got to find out where he is..."

Professor McGonagall was gazing at Harry with a horrified expression while the ADHD part of Nico's brain wondered what Harry had been dreaming about _before _his terrible not-nightmare.

Harry's temper, which Nico gathered was always just under boiling, rose as he burst out, "I'm not lying, and I'm not mad! I tell you, I saw it happen!"

"I believe you, Potter," said Professor McGonagall curtly. "Put on your dressing gown—we're going to see the headmaster."

Nico retreated to his own bedside as Harry immediately jumped out of bed and began dressing himself. He hurriedly pushed his glasses onto his nose and faced McGonagall.

"Weasley, you ought to come too."

Those were the last words Professor McGonagall said before leaving with the two Gryffindor boys. Seamus and Dean got back in their beds, whispering to each other again, and Neville, Will, and Nico closed in together on the other side of the dorm.

"Should someone get Percy?" Neville asked, looking disheveled and concerned.

"Who're you?" Will asked curiously, no trace of hostility in his voice.

"Neville Longbottom," Neville introduced, offering Will a shaky smile. "I know about...all of you."

Will turned to Nico. "You told him?"

Nico shook his head. "He found out himself. And yes, someone should go get Percy, and we'll talk in the common room."

All three of them stood there for a moment, indecision trumping all of them. Finally, Neville volunteered, "I'll get him. What about his girlfriend—Annabeth?"

"I'll get her," Will said, but Nico should his head and grabbed the son of Apollo's arm to keep him from leaving the dorm.

"Harry and Ron told me that if a boy tries to go up the girl's staircase, it turns into a slide and the boy comes right back down."

Will made a face. "Well...that's inconvenient. How are we going to alert her, then, without alerting the whole tower?"

"I'll get Percy to Iris-Message her or something," Nico said as they both made their ways down to the common room. "We really need to talk about this."

0o0o0o0o0

**Author's note: **I don't understand why people that do Harry Potter/Supernatural crossovers always make Sam and Dean so much older than Harry, and still include slash. According to the actual canon dates on both of the stories, Dean is only a year and a half older than Harry, and Sam is only three years younger than Harry. So...why pair a freaking fourteen-year-old with a guy who is 20 when their real birthdates only set them a year apart?

Jeez...I think, just because that bothers me so much, I'm going to be doing a Supernatural/Harry Potter crossover. IN YOUR ILLOGICAL FACES.

By the way, there will be more Solangelo later in the story-it's not very prominent right now, so...sorry about that. But there Will be more.

Sorry—I had to rant. Leave a review if you like :)


	20. Chapter 20

**DISCLAIMER:** Anything you recognize belongs to either Rick Riordan or J. K. Rowling. I own almost nothing, and seek no profit from this story.

**VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE: **HAPPY BIRTHDAY J. K. ROWLING AND HARRY POTTER! _WE LOVE YOU!_

**Author's note:** I am really sorry for how long it took me to update, but I had so much (pardon my language) shit to do, and it sucked. Summer work was awful...two books (which took me SO much longer than I usually would to read, because they were SO. F***ING. BORING), seven pages of work, and I STILL have Chemistry work to do. So...yeah.

By the way, I was stuck for two weeks in a town that is not my home (which I won't name, for obvious reasons) WITHOUT my Order of the Phoenix book. I wrote as much as I could without it while I was there, but I had to wait to get back to continue. It's against my morals to access sites that have books or TV shows or movies illegally on them.

0o0o0o0o0

^Percy

Someone was slapping at Percy's face, but he couldn't really bring himself to wake up. He was sleeping peacefully, and it felt _good_. Being woken up in the middle of the night had not been part of his plan for the night, and he had fully intended to sleep until one in the afternoon the next day, even though they still had another full day of classes left.

"Percy!" someone was whisper-yelling straight into his ear. It sounded vaguely familiar, but it definitely wasn't Annabeth or Nico like he expected it to be. "Percy, come on, it's an emergency."

The word _emergency_ was never good—it usually meant something was on fire in the camp, or they were being attacked by a monster, but wait—_he was at Hogwarts_. What kind of emergency...?

That was when he realized the person talking had an English accent, and his first thought was: _Neville_.

Percy opened his eyes instantly and sat up—a little too quickly. Black filled his vision for a few seconds, and he sat there, blinking it away. Once it cleared, he saw Neville standing by his bed, and scared and worried expression on his face.

"What's happening?" Percy asked, pushing his covers away and sliding his shoes out from under the bed. As he laced them on, Neville explained.

"Something's happened to Harry," Neville said in the most quiet voice he could manage, most likely not wanting to wake up the other boys in the dorm. "Will and Nico are in the Common Room and waiting for us."

Percy pulled a hoodie over his head and said, "Who's getting Annabeth?"

Neville stilled for a moment. "I'm not sure how we could get Annabeth without waking the whole tower."

"Can't someone just go and get her?" Percy asked, pausing in the act of pulling on shorts.

"No, if a boy tries and—well, there's no time for that. We can't."

Percy huffed, grabbed Riptide from his bedside, and stuffed it in his pocket before turning to Neville and saying, "Lead the way."

Neville immediately turned around and walked quickly out of the seventh-year dormitory. A few moments later, they took their last steps down the staircase and into the Common Room. Nico and Will were already standing near the fire, discussing something in quiet voices.

"Before we start anything, we need Annabeth," was the first the Percy said when he approached his two demigod friends.

Nico nodded.

"Knowing Annabeth," Percy started, "she probably has her bed curtains closed around her. So...Iris-Message?"

"That's what we were thinking," Will said, "but how are we going to get the water, or the light? It's the middle of the night."

Percy smirked at him, and Will grinned back, but Nico interrupted them, "Yes, we know, it rhymed. Not is not the time."

He couldn't help it—Percy laughed, and Will gave in and laughed along with him. After a few moments, the laughter still hadn't died down, and Nico said, "Erm...class-F emergency, here. Come on, Iris-Message solutions."

Percy looked around. "Is it possible to use fire to make a rainbow?"

"It's possible to make colored flames, but I don't think you can use the light from a fire to make a rainbow," Will said, looking thoughtful.

"Styx," Nico cursed. "We'll have to find another way."

"You know what? I'm going to at least _try _to go up the stairs," Will said.

"Why wouldn't you be able to go up the stairs?" Percy asked.

"Boys can't go up the girls' staircase," Nico explained. "It turns into a slide and sends them back down."

Percy drew his eyebrows in. "But girls can go up the boys' staircase?"

Neville and Nico both nodded.

"Wow...that is...whatever. It would be stupid not to try."

Will agreed and turned toward the staircase. He ran. Unfortunately, right when he got about six steps up, the staircase morphed into a slide and Will, frowning, slid back down to the floor of the Common Room.

"You know what? Let's just talk. Annabeth wouldn't want us to wake up everyone else in an attempt to go and get her," Percy said.

"Okay. So, this is what happened..."

Percy listened as Nico, Will, and Neville explained about Harry's nightmare (or not-nightmare, since Harry had kept repeating that it _wasn't _a dream). Once they were all finished, though, Nico added, "Harry made a few slips. I think, in his not-dream, that he _was _the snake that attacked Ron's dad. It doesn't seem to make very much sense."

"Hmm." Percy stared into the fire, thinking. "He _was _the snake? It sounds like a twisted demigod dream."

"It does," Will agreed.

"Is that relevant?" Neville asked meekly, shifting nervously.

"It could be," Percy said, shrugging. He glanced around the common room before continuing, "I don't know how we're going to figure out what's going on without being able to hear this conversation that Harry and Dumbledore are going to have. For all that we've tried, we really know nothing about Harry except his past."

"Yeah, well...how are we supposed to listen in on the conversation without someone catching us?" Will asked. "They're _wizards_, for one, and we don't know any invisibility spells."

"If only Annabeth were here..."

"Her hat stopped working," Nico reminded Percy dully.

"Obviously, and that's not what I meant. She would know a way to get us in there," Percy said. "I—"

Percy would have continued, but Professor McGonagall had suddenly burst through the door, looking distinctly ruffled. She was only wearing a dressing gown and her dark hair wasn't in its usual tight bun. Percy would have been amused at seeing her like this if the situation they were in wasn't so serious.

"Mister Jackson," she greeted confidently, seemingly careless of the fact that she was still in her jammies and rocking the free-style hair. "Mister di Angelo. I came to gather the two of you and your two companions that are visiting—Mister Longbottom, why are you still out of bed?"

"Er..." Neville glanced nervously at Percy. He tilted his head toward McGonagall and donned a questioning look—Percy gathered it as asking, _Does she know about you?_

Percy shrugged and shook his head, indicating that he had no idea.

"Talking," Neville answered lamely.

"Yes, well, I recommend that you get back up. Yes, go on."

Neville sighed, and Percy clapped him on the back, whispering, "We'll talk to you as soon as we can."

"See you, Neville," Nico added.

"Nice meeting you," Will interjected with a smile.

Neville waved a little and, with an only slightly disappointed look on his face, made his way back up the stairs to his dormitory.

There was a little silence before McGonagall said, "I do not know your name," to Will.

"Oh," Will said dumbly. "Oh. Um...I'm Will Solace. Yeah." He smiled. "You're Professor McGonagall?"

"Indeed," McGonagall confirmed. She gestured toward the girls' dorms as she continued, "How old is your other companion?"

Percy felt his heart lift as he realized that she was about to go and wake Annabeth. "She's seventeen."

McGonagall nodded, turned toward the staircase to the demigods' right, walking firmly up the stairs in her nightgown. Percy got the impression that she was doing her best to look a little extra dignified, just to show that she could still be a figure of authority, no matter what she was wearing.

Percy wondered briefly if they had a free-dress day at Hogwarts, like they did at Goode. And then he wondered if wizards actually _ever _wore anything other than robes. Judging from Dumbledore's many intricately designed and different-colored robes, _older _wizards didn't wear what they would call "Muggle clothing." But he'd seen the students wear somewhat normal clothes on the weekends.

And then he wondered what older wizards would look like trying to wear normal clothing. He almost laughed at the image of Dumbledore wearing khaki shorts with a plaid shirt buttoned up his back instead of his front with loafers.

Percy was distracted from this weird, ADHD-induced train of thought when McGonagall came back down the stairs with Annabeth trailing behind her. She was wearing pajama shorts and a somewhat loose Yankees t-shirt.

"What's going on?" she immediately asked in a firm, yet quiet voice. She went to stand next to Percy. "Is it about the _quest_?" She leaned in and whispered the last word in Percy's ear.

Percy only nodded.

"I need the four of you to follow me," McGonagall said, and she didn't wait for them to respond before turning around and walking out of the common room without looking back to see if they were keeping up.

All four of them scrambled through the portrait hole and after McGonagall.

After quite a while of fast-paced walking, McGonagall stopped in front of a large stone gargoyle. She leaned down, muttered something to it, and it jumped aside. The demigods followed McGonagall up the spiral staircase and to the door that led to what Percy (and Nico) knew to be Dumbledore's office.

McGonagall, surprisingly, did not knock. She pushed open the door as Dumbledore was saying, "—positioned as you watched this attack happen? Were you perhaps standing beside the victim, or else looking down on the scene from above?"

Everyone except Harry and Dumbledore turned their heads to see the McGonagall and the demigods' entrance.

"I was the snake," Harry said. He paused briefly with a pained look on his face before continuing, "I saw it all from the snake's point of view."

Beside Percy, Nico made a tiny noise of victory—he had been right.

Other than that, the room was completely silent for a few moments. Ron was white-faced, and everyone in the room was extremely nervous. Percy noticed that Dumbledore was looking everywhere but Harry—that must have stung a little.

"Is Arthur seriously injured?" Dumbledore suddenly asked, and though everyone knew the question was directed at Harry, he was looking at Ron.

"_Yes_," Harry said emphatically. He finally tore his gaze from Dumbledore and looked around the room exasperatedly, as if thinking, _Why are you all so freaking slow?_ He allowed himself a moment of shock and suspicion when he saw the group of demigods standing by the door, but otherwise didn't comment.

Suddenly, Dumbledore stood up—so fast that it made quite a few people in the room jump. He turned and addressed one of the old-looking portraits that hung near the ceiling. "Everard?" His voice was sharp, but it sounded like a question. "And you too, Dilys!" he added.

Percy didn't really know why it was so important to talk to his portraits at this moment, but he decided not to comment. Will and Annabeth still looked slightly startled when the portraits actually opened their eyes—Nico and Percy had long since gotten used to it.

"You were listening?" Dumbledore asked.

The guy nodded and the woman said, as though it were obvious, "Naturally."

Percy quietly huffed and looked around at all the other portraits, who were probably also pretending to be asleep while listening in on every word the occupants of the office were saying.

"The man has red hair and glasses," Dumbledore, and Percy assumed was he was talking about Ron's dad. "Everard, you will need to raise the alarm, make sure he is found by the right people—"

Both of the portraits nodded and moved out of their frames, but Percy drew his eyebrows in and frowned when they didn't appear into the ones next to them.

"Everard and Dilys were two of Hogwarts's most celebrated Heads," Dumbledore continued. Percy scowled at the unnecessary fact at a time like this, but then the Headmaster went on, "Their renown is such that both have portraits hanging in other important Wizarding institutions. As they are free to move between their own portraits they can tell us what may be happening elsewhere..."

"But Mr. Weasley could be anywhere!" Harry protested, but Percy had a feeling that Dumbledore already knew where Mr. Weasley was. It seemed to him that Dumbledore knew pretty much everything—or at least, he made that impression.

"Please sit down, all seven of you," Dumbledore said, ignoring Harry. He, apparently, wasn't bothering to even look at the fifth year. Percy found it cruel. "Everard and Dilys may not be back for several minutes...Professor McGonagall, if you could draw up extra chairs..."

Prfoessor McGonagall pulled her wand from the pocket of her dressing gown and waved it. Seven uncomfortable-looking chairs appeared out of thin air, and Percy, Annabeth, Nico, Will, Harry, Ron, and McGonagall all sat down. Dumbledore was stroking a creature—some sort of beautiful bird with golden feathers. It awoke, stretched, and regarded Dumbledore through incredibly intelligent, dark eyes.

"We will need a warning," Dumbledore murmured to it.

And suddenly, the creature burst into flame and disappeared.

_Really _unable to help it, Percy asked, "What was that?"

Annabeth sent him a reproaching look, but he could tell that she was just as curious—if not more so—than he was about it.

"Fawkes," Dumbledore answered simply. "The phoenix."

Annabeth's eyebrows shot up at this statement, and Percy wholeheartedly agreed. Phoenixes were myths—but then again, so were the Greek gods. Why couldn't a phoenix exist and not them?

Dumbledore walked over to a shelf and started tinkering with one of the tiny silver instruments sitting on it. It started making rhythmic clinking noises until tiny puffs of green smoke started to pour out of the tube at the top. After a few seconds, the puffs became a steady stream of smoke, which coiled in the air. A snake head grew out of the end of it, opening its mouth wide. Percy had no idea what any of this meant, but Dumbledore was watching it closely with his brow furrowed.

"Naturally, naturally," Dumbledore murmured to no one in particular. "But in essence divided?"

Annabeth was looking extremely irritated with the lack of explanation from...well..._anyone_. But she didn't say anything, probably thinking that it was an inappropriate time to be asking questions. Everyone watched as, at Dumbledore's inquiry, the smoke snake split itself into two serpents. With a look of grim satisfaction, Dumbledore gave the instrument another tap with his wand, and both of the snakes slowly vanished.

Percy had no idea why Dumbledore or McGonagall would bring the four of them here and then not bother to talk to them. Dumbledore was being irritating, and this seemed like the worst possible time to be irritating. He had just been thinking this, when Dumbledore suddenly decided to make direct eye contact with Percy. He seemed to be trying to send a silent message, but Percy honestly had no idea what he was trying to say—Annabeth was so much better at that kind of stuff. Percy tried to make sense of Dumbledore's eye-message, but they were suddenly interrupted by someone yelling, "Dumbledore!"

Both of them sharply looked away, and found that the person yelling was the painting of Everard. Dumbledore asked of the news, and it continued, "I yelled until someone came running, said I'd heard something moving downstairs—they weren't sure whether to believe me but went down to check—you know there are no portraits down there to watch from. Anyway, they carried him up a few minutes later. He doesn't look good, he's covered in blood, I ran along to Elfrida Cragg's portrait to get a good view as they left—"

Some part of Percy had hoped that nothing had really happened to Ron's dad, but he had known that it wasn't really possible. If demigod dreams were anything to go on...

Ron made a convulsive, choking noise as Dumbledore said, "Good, I take it Dilys will have seen him arrive, then—"

Just then, the portrait called Dilys reappeared in her picture, too. She was coughing and panting, and she sank down in her painted chair as she said, "Yes, they've taken him to St. Mungo's, Dumbledore...They carried him past under my portrait...He looks bad..."

"Thank you," said Dumbledore. "Miverva, I need you to go and wake the other Weasley children."

"Of course..."

Percy wondered why she hadn't woken them up when she went to retrieve the demigods from the common room, but he guessed the they had to make sure that Mr. Weasley had actually been injured before waking the whole family.

Professor McGonagall turned to leave, but she paused at the door. "And Dumbledore—what about Molly?"

Percy didn't know who this was, but Dumbledore said, "That will be a job for Fawkes when he has finished keeping a lookout for anybody approaching. But she may already know...that excellent clock of hers..."

The son of Poseidon was starting to feel like this whole encounter was just one big ball of condensed confusion. Who was Molly, and how would she figure out where Mr. Weasley was by using a clock? And that trinket with the snakes...and Dumbledore unspoken message...and the fact that Harry had dreamed this in the first place...Nothing really made any sense.

Dumbledore turned and started rummaging for a cupboard. Percy strained to see what he was looking for—until the Headmaster turned back around with a blackened kettle in his hand. He placed it carefully upon his desk as the four demigods watched confusedly, raising wand and muttering _"__Portus"_ at it. The old, worn-looking kettle trembled and glowed before slowly stopping and returning to its original color.

And then Percy watched as Dumbledore struggled to get some snobby portrait's attention, who seemed set on refusing to help while the other portraits scolded him for his "insubordination." After a few threats, the portrait, whom Percy gathered to be named Phineas (due to Dumbledore and the other portraits repeatedly yelling his name), complied with saying, "Oh, very _well_, though he may well have destroyed my picture by now, he's done most of the family—"

Before Percy could wonder who he was talking about, Dumbledore said, "Sirius knows not to destroy your portrait."

Percy felt a shock run through him at the mention of the name _Sirius_. He was pretty sure that Dumbledore had meant Sirius Black, the man that they were supposed to save. Save from _what_, they didn't know. Nor did they know when. Or how. Just that he had to be saved.

He shared a look with Nico as Dumbledore continued, "You are to give him the message that Arthur Weasley has been gravely injured and that his wife, children, Harry Potter, and four half-bloods will be arriving at his house shortly. Do you understand?"

"Arthur Weasley, injured, wife and children and Harry Potter and four half-bloods"—he said the previous two words as if they were distasteful—"coming to stay. Yes, yes...very well..." He sounded incredibly bored.

Just as Phineas sloped out of his frame, the office door opened again. Fred, George, and Ginny were ushered inside by McGonagall. They all looked disheveled—the twins had identical looks of shock on their faces, and Ginny looked frightened and frantic.

"Harry—what's going on?" Ginny asked. Her voice was unsteady. "Professor McGonagall says you saw Dad hurt—"

And _that _was when Percy realized that Mr. Weasley was the father of seven children. Should he die, he would leave eight people, plus many others, in deep despair. It hit him like a tidal wave the Mr. Weasley really _needed _to be okay. He had a family. Percy felt his panic for the man double, though he didn't outwardly show it. There was nothing that he could really do for Mr. Weasley. He was already in St. Mungo's, which Percy assumed to be a hospital. He couldn't possibly to better for Mr. Weasley than trained doctors and nurses and healers.

Percy snapped out of his thoughts when one of the twins—Percy was pretty sure it was Fred—said, "How're we going? Floo powder?"

"No, Floo powder is not safe at the moment, the Network is being watched. You will be taking a Portkey." Percy had no idea what either of these were. "We are just waiting for Phineas Nigellus to report back...I wish to be sure that the coast is clear before sending you—"

"Sending us where?" Nico and Percy asked at the same time, but their voices were drowned out by a flash of flame that erupted suddenly in the middle of the office. Nobody answered them.

"It is Fawkes's warning," Dumbledore said, catching the feather that had appeared in the flame as it floated to the floor. "She must know you're out of your beds...Minerva, go and head her offf—tell her any story—"

Percy finally understood something that Dumbledore had said—Umbridge had figured out that they weren't in their dorms.

Professor McGonagall immediately left, and right then, Phineas's voice said, "He says he'll be delighted. My great-great-grandson has always had odd taste in houseguests...four half-bloods..."

"Come here, then," Dumbledore said to the nine of them—the four Weasleys, Harry, and the four demigods. "And quickly, before anyone else joins us..."

Percy, along with the rest of them, went to gather around Dumbledore's desk, on which the blackened kettle still sat, unmoving and plain.

"You have all used a Portkey before?" Dumbledore asked, and everyone except the four demigods—who shook their heads—nodded. Dumbledore briefly explained, "Touch any part of the kettle. A mere finger will do." Percy quicky complied. He held Annabeth's hand with his right and hooked his left pointer finger over the top of the kettle. "Good. On the count of three then...one...two..."

Percy had no idea what to expect—was it some sort of transportation device?—but he closed his eyes as Dumbledore said "three," and something shifted within his navel, like he was being pulled forward by it. He heard a faint-ish, pained choking noise to his left, where Harry stood, and saw that he was contorting his face in pain, but before he could do anything, he felt himself spiraling. He couldn't let go of the kettle—it was like his finger was super-glued to it. A rush of wind and a swirl of colors passed them, and suddenly, Percy was landing, feet first, in a completely different place. He hit the ground so hard that his knees buckled, which led to him crashing—along with the others—ungracefully to the floor.

An odd, raspy vioce said, "Back again, the blood traitor brats, is it true their father's dying...?"

"OUT!" roared a second voice, this one much more humane.

Everyone scrambled to their feet. Percy looked around—the place was gloomy. The only sources of light were the fireplace, casting flickering shadows among everything in the room, and one guttering candle, whose flame didn't seem to have much spark. Percy noticed something small and wrinkly disappearing through a door leading to what Percy assumed was a hall. The place had a desolate look about it—lonely, and somewhat forgotten.

A man was hurrying toward the nine of them, looking anxious. His beard was scruffy, and his long (for a guy) hair was messy. Percy recognized him as Sirius Black—a much cleaner version, but still him.

"What's going on?" he asked as he stretched out a hand to help Ginny stand. "Phineas Nigellus said Arthur's been badly injured—"

"Ask Harry," Fred said.

"Yeah, I want to hear this for myself," George added.

Harry looked half-embarrassed and half-offended. Everyone was staring at him, save for Nico, who was studying Sirius.

"It was—" Harry tried, but he faltered. "I had a—a kind of—vision..."

And he continued on to recite the dream to them, though he made it sound as though he had watched it from the sidelines. Percy completely understood this; he wouldn't want to tell someone that he had seen the dream from the snake's point of view.

Every Weasley face in the room looked Ashen, and Harry still looked vaguely sick. Sirius was shocked and worried. The demigods were concerned, but inquisitive. Percy, himself, just felt vaguely numb. Calm. That was weird.

"And who," Sirius began, turning to Percy and his three friends, "are you? 'Four half-bloods.' It sounds off. Would you mind...?"

"Er, no," Percy said immediately. "I'm Percy Jackson, and this is Annabeth Chase, Nico di Angelo, and Will Solace," he introduced pointing to each in turn. "You're...Sirius Black?"

"The one and only," Sirius conceded. The older man studied the four of them for a few moments, before shrugging and turning away, adding, "Welcome to my _lovely _home."

For a while after that, they only sat in silence. Sirius offered them butterbeer, and some of them declined, while others accepted, only to end up taking a few sips. Percy couldn't stand the stillness of the room—his ADHD compelled him to start doing _something—_walking, pacing, dancing, tapping—it didn't even matter after a while. He sat in a moderately comfortable chair, holding a mug of butterbeer, his fingers tapping against the glass. He could tell that he was irritating the others with the noise, but he couldn't help it. He wondered how Nico and Annabeth could seem to calm. The silence was deafening. Will, at least, was jiggling his knee as he swirled the butterbeer around in his cup. After what seemed to contend of forever, Sirius asked him, "What year are you in at Hogwarts?"

It seemed that Sirius was just as desperate for something to do as he was. The question was blatantly ordinary and purely conversational.

"Seventh," Percy answered. "We're from America. Nico, here, is in fifth, and these are just our friends that were visiting for a few days."

Sirius nodded. He didn't seem to have anything else to say.

So they fell into silence once again.

Not for long, though, as just a few minutes later, there was a burst of fire in midair, and a scroll of parchment fell onto the table with a soft thud, accompanied by a single gold feather.

"Fawkes!" Sirius cried. "That's not Dumbledore's writing—it must be a message from your mother—here—"

Sirius thrust the letter into George's hand, who ripped it open and read to them, _"__Dad is still alive. I am setting out for St. Mungo's now. Stay where you are. I will send news as soon as I can. Mum."_

George looked up from the parchment and around the table. "Still alive...But that makes it sound..."

The twin did not finish the sentence, and he did not need to. Percy grimaced at the mental images that came up along with the words "still alive." It was a good thing, yet a terrible thing at the same time.

Some more time passed, and it seemed that they wanted to fall asleep. Percy was tempted to, but he caught a look from Sirius that said he shouldn't. He assumed that Ron was asleep, and it was obvious that both Fred and George were. Ginny was curled up in a chair, but her eyes were open, reflecting the firelight. Nico's eyes were closed and he was leaning back, though Percy couldn't really tell if he was awake or asleep. Harry obviously didn't want to sleep. He just sad with his butterbeer in his hands, waiting. Will was beside Nico, definitely in slumber, breathing slowly and evenly. Annabeth, however, was wide awake and staring intently at the lone candle flickering on the table. She seemed to be thinking.

Percy stood up. He had caught the message the Sirius had wanted to talk. Annabeth looked at him for a moment before joining him in leaving the room with Sirius in front of them.

Once they were in the hallway outside, Sirius ascended the stairs. The outside of the original room was even gloomier, if possible. They followed Sirius up the stairs and into a room on their left. He had no idea to whom it belonged to, nor did he really care.

Sirius turned around after they had shut the door behind them. "Who are you?"

"Annabeth, and Percy..." Annabeth said, raising an eyebrow at Sirius.

"No, I meant...why are you here? You're not...you're not from Hogwarts. You're not from _England_. Why are you here? Because it can't be solely for Hogwarts. Dumbledore addressed the four of you as 'half-bloods,' but he never deems blood-status important enough to address people by it."

"Why are we here?" Percy repeated, and Sirius nodded. Percy didn't want to lie to Sirius—he seemed like a good man. But there was no way that he could tell them about the gods. Why would he believe them, anyway? He looked to Annabeth for advice on what to say, but she looked conflicted as well.

"We're here to help," Percy said, as Annabeth said, "They're here to help with the war."

Percy couldn't help but grin a little at their like-mindedness.

Sirius stared at them for a moment, as if expecting them to yell spontaneously, "APRIL FOOL'S!" But they never did. After staring at them for a moment more, he said, "To help with the—to help...the war?" He let out a bark-like laugh. "Did _Dumbledore _bring you here? He wants...help...the war..." Sirius seemed enraged and incredulous. "What can two teenaged kids do for a _war_?"

Percy couldn't help but feel mildly insulted. He and so many of his friends have fought their ways through _two _wars—and didn't he realize the significant role that Harry seemed to play in the one that they were fighting now? Percy, impulsively, was about to protest, but Annabeth cut in calmly, "You underestimate us."

"Do I?" Sirius asked. "Well, I'm sorry, but you're—seventeen? Maybe eighteen? Just barely of age, and from _America_. What makes _you_, in particular, so special? There could be hundreds of more experienced wizards than you in America. Why you?"

Percy knew _exactly _why. But the reason was because they were demigods. He couldn't...

"I don't know," Percy said, and he caught an unexpected look of approval from Annabeth. "I don't know why. You're right—we're only teens. Nico is barely fifteen, and I'm seventeen. It does seem to young, doesn't it? But look at Harry and his friends—I know vaguely of what they've done at school. They're more involved than us in the war, and I'm two years older than them. Dumbledore asked our—er—principal to send someone to help, and so we came. I don't know," he repeated.

Sirius merely looked Percy straight in the eyes. Some of it was the truth—Percy really didn't know why Chiron, or the "goddess involved," had chosen him and Nico. He knew plenty of other people that would probably be better-suited for this—such as _anyone _from the Hecate cabin, or maybe even Hazel or Piper. But no—Nico and Percy were chosen.

"I seriously need to talk to Dumbledore," Sirius muttered, exiting the room and walking back down the stairs. Percy and Annabeth stayed where they were.

"That was a convincing speech," Annabeth finally said.

Percy grinned. "Wasn't it?"

Annabeth studied him. "I could tell there was at least a little truth to it."

Percy pressed his lips together. "Well...I really _don't _know why we were chosen. I can think of plenty of people better-suited for this quest."

"_I _can't think of anyone," Annabeth said. "And maybe I'll tell you the reasons later."

Percy shook his head and grinned. Annabeth moved forward and pecked him on the lips before she followed Sirius down the stairs, with Percy right behind her.

0o0o0o0o0

Finally, Mrs. Weasley arrived, bearing good news. Everyone immediately perked up at the announcement that Mr. Weasley would be okay. Breakfast was served along with new good cheer. Mrs. Weasley repeatedly thanked Harry for alerting them. She also thanked Sirius for looking after them, and Sirius waved her off with an extravagant, "The more the merrier!" Sirius and Harry talked, they kept eating and being happy, and then it was declared that they would spend the rest of the morning sleeping. When everyone woke up, the first thing Percy heard was, "We're going to St. Mungo's!"

And if he was being honest, he was morbidly curious about what a Wizarding hospital would be like—and what sort of patients would be there.

0o0o0o0o0

**Author's note: **Wow. That was...long. Sorry about the boringness. Trust me...the next chapter is a lot more exciting (humorous) than this one.

_**PLEASE TELL ME if you mind any mistakes. **_I was so impatient to post this that I didn't proofread half of it.

Er...review if you would like to. I would really like that.

...Um, holy shit. I am literally about to post this (this is in Doc Manager right now), and I just got the message—fifteen seconds ago—that my friend's mom just died. Um...I don't even know what to...I'm laughing. It's crazy. I laugh in stressful situations, or when I'm sad, or angry—like Sirius. It'll take me a while to stop laughing. See you.


	21. Chapter 21

**DISCLAIMER:** Anything you recognize belongs to either Rick Riordan or J. K. Rowling. I own almost nothing, and seek no profit from this story.

**Author's note: **The last chapter was a little dull, so I included humor and a small amount of excitement in this one. Yay! You know Lockhart's in this chapter ;)

I HAVE BEEN working on this one-shot (it's only, like, ten-thirteenths of the way done, and it's 8,000 words already) so that I can post it on Percy's birthday. It's a Paul-and-the-Jacksons thing (since I'm in love with the relationship between Paul and Percy). So, when the time comes, check it out!

Also, not having a beta sucks. Half of the time it takes me to update is procrastinating on the editing part. I can edit anyone else's (I actually have a _job_ doing that), but I can't edit mine, for some reason.

0o0o0o0o0

^Percy

Everyone seemed to be in a weirdly happy mood—Percy along with them. Well, everyone except Harry. The fifth-year had shadows under his eyes, like he hadn't slept when everyone else had, and he was sort of being gloomy, even though he tried to pretend that he was as happy as everyone else.

Percy wasn't fooled. So, as they were all handed "Muggle clothes" to change into, Percy approached Harry before they all left the room to get changed.

"Are you okay?" Percy asked him.

Harry looked up at him in surprise. The boy had a mixture of emotions showing on his face for a few seconds—a few that Percy recognized, a few that he didn't. Disappointment, and fear, and combination of resentment and worry. But, there was something else, under the surface...something that Percy couldn't place. This was only for a moment, though—immediately, Harry masked his face and said, "I'm fine. Why?"

Percy sighed. "You're not...you're not fine." He was astonished that he could detect so much just from Harry's face in the first place, but he continued, "I know that trick. I do it way too much."

Harry huffed and looked back down at the clothes still in his hands. "I don't know what you're..." He trailed off, leaving the sentence hanging, and then he walked out of the room to go and change.

Percy decided to ignore it for the time being—but, maybe, this was a way to get Harry to trust him. Relate. He would have to talk to Harry later if he didn't get any better.

Other than that, there was someone who caught Percy's eye—well, she caught _everyone's _eyes. The woman called Tonks. Percy found her amusing, in the sense that she kind of reminded him of himself. She was talkative, and funny, she had a huge sense of humor, and she had that clumsiness that Percy definitely had before he found out he was a demigod (and, admittedly, a couple of years after).

After everyone was changed into _normal_ clothes (to the demigods), they all set out onto some giant, _violently _purple bus with more than one level to it.

"What...?" Percy asked, trailing off.

"That is one interesting bus," Will admitted, appraising it.

"It's so...purple," Nico said.

"How does it even stay _upright_ with three levels?" Annabeth asked, sounding incredulous.

"This," Tonks said, ignoring everything the four demigods had just inquired, "is The Night Bus."

Percy tore his eyes away from the triple-decker and said, "But, it's morning."

"No, no, I mean _knight _with a K at the front."

The four demigods still just stood, staring at the bus.

"Well," Tonks interrupted their ogling, "let's get on."

She continued to usher all of the kids up the steps of the bus and into the seats that were in rows stretching across the bus.

Riding on The Knight Bus was probably one of the most interesting experiences Percy had ever had. It was rattly, the people on it (especially the guide, Stan Shunpike) were loud, and at every single stop, there was a really loud _BANG!_ and half of the chairs would topple over. The passengers would spend time, as some of them got off, straightening the chairs and sitting back down in them, only to repeat the experience when the bus took off again. It was an endless circle. Thankfully, they only had to go through this for three stops until they got off at the entrance to St. Mungo's...or so Percy thought.

There didn't seem to be anything of importance _at all _where they had gotten off. Just a bunch of Christmas-shopping mortals (er, Muggles?) milling around the sidewalks and in the stores. Right in front of them was a very old looking store with the title of "Purge and Dowse Ltd." Worn-out mannequins stood in the window, wearing outfits that were...awful. Seriously. The signs on the doors—which obviously hadn't been touched in years, judging by the dust coating them—all had the sign CLOSED FOR REFURBISHMENT on them (_and, _Percy thought,_ you should all be impressed that I could figure out what that sign even said_).

"I don't think it ever got refurbished," Percy stated, staring at the dummy with a false eyelash hanging on its cheek.

"I would have to agree with that observation," Annabeth said.

Tonks moved and stood in front of the mannequin Percy had been staring at. "Right. Everybody ready?"

Nobody answered, and Percy was too busy wondering what in the world they were doing in front of _Purge and Dowse Ltd_. Was it going to spontaneously erupt into magical fire and transform into the hospital called St. Mungo's? Somehow, Percy doubted this, but he'd learned to expect pretty much anything when it came to the Wizarding world.

"Wotcher...We're here to see Arthur Weasley," Tonks told the dummy.

When it didn't immediately respond, Will said, "Tonks? Er...that's a mannequin."

She laughed a little, and suddenly everyone's jaws dropped as the mannequin nodded its head and beckoned a single finger in response.

"What's the entrance to the hospital in America like, then?" Tonks asked as Ginny and Mrs. Weasley stepped up to her.

"Doors," the four demigods answered at once, in _this-should-be-obvious _voices.

Fred, George, and Ron went next. Then Moody and Harry. Then Percy and Annabeth. Then Will and Nico.

Right when he stepped in, Percy _could not _help bursting out into hysterical laughter.

At first, he'd tried to contain it—it was a hospital, after all, and these people really did need help in some way—but it was just way too hard. The "ailments" in a magical hospital...

"Hush, Percy, you're getting weird looks," Annabeth said.

And then Nico and Will came in after them, and _they _both burst into hysterical laughter, also.

There was, halfway across the room, man (looking something like nineteen or twenty) who could seem to stop tapdancing all over the place. A woman in the back corner had grown a beak. A woman to his left his overlarge teeth—and by overlarge, Percy meant they were literally down to her bellybutton. One guy in another corner seemed to clang every time he moved, and then he would have to hold his head to keep it steady afterward. Another woman seemed to be imitating a teapot; she kept making whistling noises, and steam poured out of her mouth like crazy.

After a minute or so, the laughter died down. _Almost _all the way. None of them could help the now-and-again (very manly) giggle that would escape their lips as they walked up to the front desk.

There were people in lurid lime-green robes walking up and down the rows, asking questions and making notes on clipboards. The robes had emblems on them—a wand and a bone, crossed.

"Are they doctors?" Percy and Harry asked at the same time.

"Doctors?" Ron repeated, looking startled. "Those Muggle nutters that cut people up? Nah, they're Healers."

"Hey, those 'Muggle nutters' are good at their jobs, where Muggles are concerned," Will protested.

"Yeah, well—"

"Over here!" Mrs. Weasley called, interrupting Ron. They approached a different desk, and Percy immediately recognized the woman in the portrait hanging on the wall behind the blonde witch seated at it—it was Dilys, from Dumbledore's office.

Percy had to turn away to keep himself together as the same young wizard he'd noticed before, that couldn't stop tapdancing, tried to explain his predicament in between yelps of pain (and exasperation, Percy could tell).

"It's these—ouch—shoes my brother gave me—ow—they're eating my—OUCH—feet—look at them, there must be some kind of—AARGH—jinx on them and I can't—AAAAARGH—get them off—"

"The shoes don't prevent you reading, do they?" the blonde witch asked rudely. "You want Spell Damage, fourth floor. Just like it says on the floor guide. Next!"

The wizard struggled to move out of the way, and the large group of demigods and wizards moved forward. Harry was studying a sign that Percy didn't bother trying to read (it was long, and he didn't feel like exhausting himself with words at the moment).

Percy moved closer to Annabeth as they waited in line. "How are you _not _entertained by any of this?"

"It's a hospital," Annabeth reasoned. "These people are obviously in some sort of pain."

Percy gave her a look, and then jabbed his thumb to a place across the room where a man who had somehow configured his head into a lion's was roaring repeatedly for the entertainment of the others around him. And then to another place, where a man and a woman were strumming an instrument that _looked _like a guitar (but didn't), and the people around them were singing a song about a...hippogriff?

Annabeth stared at them. "What's a hippogriff?"

Hermione had heard. "You don't know what a hippogriff is?"

Percy shrugged. "I guess we don't have them in America."

"It's a magical creature—it has the front legs, wings, and head of a giant eagle, and the body, hind legs, and tail of a horse."

Percy raised his eyebrows. "Wow."

Hermione laughed a little. "Yes. Wow. They're really beautiful creatures."

"I bet they are," Annabeth agreed.

By that time, the Weasleys had gotten to the front of the line.

"Hello. My husband, Arthur Weasley, was supposed to be moved to a different ward this morning, could you tell us—?"

"Arthur Weasley?" the witch interrupted, running her finger down a three-foot list in front of her. "Yes, first floor, second door on the right, Dai Llewellyn ward."

"Thank you."

They all moved off, through a pair of double doors and into a narrow hallway, which was lined with even more portraits of doctors—er, Healers. There were crystal bubbles full of candles floating up at the ceilings, lighting the hallway and looking like a bunch of giant soapsuds. They climbed a flight of stairs and entered another hallway, where they then stopped outside of the second door on the right.

"We'll wait outside, Molly," Tonks said. "Arthur won't want too many visitors at once...It ought to be just the family first."

Mad-Eye—who seemed to be just a little deranged, in Percy's opinion—growled in approval of the idea. All of the Weasleys moved forward, but when Harry drew back, Mrs. Weasley reached out a hand and pushed him through the door, saying, "Don't be silly, Harry, Arthur wants to thank you..."

Obviously, the four demigods stayed outside with Tonks and Mad-Eye.

"So..." Percy tried, and Annabeth snorted as his meek attempt to start a conversation.

"I don't know what you four are doing here," Moody said suddenly, both his magical eye and real one on Percy, "but it Dumbledore sent you, it's for a good reason. All he said to me was that you needed to know what was going on."

"Yeah," Tonks put in. "What _are _you doing here?"

Percy didn't like the fact that, suddenly, everyone seemed to want to ask questions. If Dumbledore hadn't told them about their "demigodliness," then...what were they supposed to do?

_Maybe's he waiting for us to tell everyone ourselves, _Percy thought, but he didn't know if that was a good idea. He didn't know what would happen if the wizards were to know about their existence. Clashing this kind of magic and the Greek world could probably result in some pretty nasty enemies.

Playing dumb seemed to be the best option to Percy, and, somehow, Annabeth seemed to agree.

"We don't know," she said. "We were in the Gryffindor common room when Professor McGonagall came and got us. It seemed urgent, so we complied, and...here we are."

"What're your names?"

"I'm Annabeth, and these are Percy, Nico, and Will."

Moody only raised his eyebrows.

"Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson, Nico di Angelo, and Will Solace. Better?"

"Don't give me attitude, girl. Yes, better. Percy Jackson and Nico di Angelo...you're the foreign students here for the year, yes?"

They both nodded.

And then...awkward silence.

"I can't believe I didn't ask this sooner," Percy said, turning to Annabeth and Will, "but how are things back home?"

"Oh, things are going well," Annabeth said. "Thalia and the...her friends...have come to visit a few times, and Jason is still there. Reconstruction is going pretty fast, since everyone is still pitching in. We're almost done with pretty much everything."

"How're Hazel and Frank and Reyna?" Nico asked.

"I hear that Frank is doing pretty good with his new role," Will said subtly. "And Hazel is doing great. People respect her more, is what Piper's saying. And Reyna is gettting used to working alongside Frank."

Percy waited, but nobody said anything else, so he plunged, "Any news on Leo?"

"Oh my gods!" Annabeth burst. "Have I not told you? I'm such a terrible...Leo showed up to Camp on Festus with Calypso!"

"He did _what_?" Percy and Nico exclaimed at the same time.

"Yep," Will said. "He waltzed right in, flaming, with the girl at his side and Festus right behind him."

Percy took his time to process this—Leo was alive!—but the mention of Calypso made Percy feel a mixture of things—relief, regret, and then anger. Anger, because Calypso had cursed Annabeth for something that _Percy _did. And Annabeth hadn't deserved that.

"I _knew _there was something weird," Nico said.

"How did Leo find her again?" Percy finally asked.

"Technology," Annabeth answered, her eyes flickering toward the two Aurors standing with them in the hallway. "And medicine."

Percy had no idea what this meant, but Annabeth only gave her a look that said: _I'll tell you later._

"How is Calypso?" he asked.

"She's good," Will answered. "She seems kind of confused, all the time, but...she's good."

"That's...good," Percy said lamely. He needed to know one more thing. "How are Mom and Paul?"

"Great!" Annabeth immediately answered, latching onto the subject change. "They're kind of sad about you going...to Hogwarts...after, you know..."

"Yeah, I know," Percy said.

"But they're doing pretty good. Sally's book is selling great."

Percy couldn't help but grin. His mom had her emotions from Percy's time away to do a bunch of writing, and once he was back, she sent it out, and it was published by the second company the she showed it to. Which, for the first book (from what Paul told him), was really good.

"Awesome! I need to talk to her soon...I haven't contacted her in a few weeks, actually..."

"When this is all over—with Mr. Weasley, I mean—we'll talk to her."

"We will."

...and they fell into silence again.

It only lasted for a minute or so, because suddenly, the door opened and all of the Weasley children and Harry trooped back into the hallway. Moody and Tonks took the cue and entered.

"Fine," Fred said coolly, and Percy knew that this was a continuation of some sort of argument that had went on inside the ward, "be like that. Don't tell us anything." He was rummaging in his pockets.

"Looking for these?" his twin said, pulling out of his pockets...string. Flesh-colored string.

"You read my mind," Fred said, grinning—and somehow, Percy wouldn't have doubted this was actually true. "Let's see if St. Mungo's puts Imperturbable Charms on its ward doors, shall we?"

They separated nine of the strings from each other and handed them out. The demigods took them, but were completely baffled.

"Extendable Ears," George explained, seeing the looks on their faces. "Put them in your ear and slide them under the door, and you can hear what's going on the ward."

Percy raised his eyebrows. "Cool."

Annabeth stuck it in her ear, watching as Fred whispered to them, "Okay, go!" They wriggled like long, skinny worms under the door. And when it worked, she drew her eyebrows together and started inspecting the string, like she wanted to figure out how it worked.

"...they searched the whole area but they couldn't find the snake anywhere, it just seems to have vanished after it attacked you, Arthur...But You-Know-Who can't have expected a snake to get in, can he?"

"I reckon he sent it as a lookout," growled the voice of Mad-Eye Moody, "'cause he's not had any luck so far, has he? No, I reckon he's trying to get a clearer picture of what he's facing and if Arthur hadn't been there the beast would've had much more time to look around. So Potter says he saw it all happen?"

"Yes," Mrs. Weasley said. "You know, Dumbledore seems almost to have been waiting for Harry to see something like this..."

"Yeah, well, there's something funny about the Potter kid, we all know that."

Harry had wrinkled his nose at this, like he was vaguely insulted, but was also used to it.

"Dumbledore seemed worried about Harry when I spoke to him this morning."

"'Course he's worried," Moody responded. "The boy's seeing things from inside You-Know-Who's snake...Obviously, Potter doesn't realize what that means, but if You-Know-Who's possessing him—"

Percy, Annabeth, Will, Nico, and Harry all yanked the strings out of their ears at once. Percy didn't want to hear _anything _about possession, after what had happened with Luke, and then the eidolons, and he was pretty sure it was the same for the other three demigods.

Harry looked around at them, and Percy cursed the Weasleys for having the audacity to look somewhat afraid of Harry. He was breathing harshly, and his face was burning.

_Of course_ Harry wasn't being possessed, if it would be anything like the eidolons or Luke. But he wasn't sure if anyone would be able to convince Harry of this.

0o0o0o0o0

^Harry

Harry tried not to think about everything that had just happened. He felt dirty, and contaminated, and the Weasleys weren't making eye-contact with him. He couldn't help but wonder if this was what Dumbledore had been worried about. What this why Dumbledore could no longer bear look into his eyes?

And he thought about it. The mention of a weapon...could _Harry _be the weapon? Would Voldemort use him? After all, _he _had attacked Mr. Weasley the night before.

They were on their way back to Grimmauld Place. Harry hadn't said a word since they were outside the Dai Llewellyn ward.

"Are you all right, Harry, dear?" whispered Mrs. Weasley, leaning across Ginny to speak to him. "You don't look very well. Are you feeling sick?"

They were all watching him—well, everyone except Percy and Annabeth, who seemed to be otherwise occupied (Harry had gathered that they were a couple). He shook his head quickly and stared up at a home insurance advertisement.

Even as they were around the unkempt patch of grass in the middle of Grimmauld Place, she asked again, "Harry, dear, are you _sure _you're all right? You look ever so pale...Are you sure you slept this morning? You go upstairs to bed right now, and you can have a couple of hours' sleep before dinner, all right?"

Harry seized the opportunity to escape the company of the others and nodded. When she opened the door, he passed the troll's leg umbrella stand and up the stairs and hurried into his and Ron's bedroom.

He started to pace, thinking hard, but he was only in there for a few minutes before someone knocked on the door. Harry quickly got on the bed and pretended to be asleep.

He didn't look to see who opened it a few seconds later, until a voice said, "I know you're not asleep, so...can we talk?"

It was Percy. Harry cringed a little, his irritation flaring, but he suppressed it and turned his head to look at the older teen. He was standing, alone, in the doorway, looking as freaking pretty and muscly as ever. Harry cursed his thoughts...his temper was making him irritable. He had noticed that his temper seemed to always be boiling just under the surface these days.

The answer to his question was no, they couldn't talk. Harry didn't want to talk. But Percy walked in anyway, closed the door, and sat down on Ron's bed, which was to Harry's left.

Harry didn't know how to phrase his question nicely. "What do you want?"

Percy only grinned at him. "Just to talk. Look, I don't think you're being possessed."

Despite Harry's determination to be moody, Harry felt his hopes lift just a small fraction.

"Why not?"

He let out a sigh. "I've been possessed before. And I've known a person who was possessed before."

Harry sat up at this. "You've been possessed before?"

"Uh...yeah. It was pretty bad. I actually almost...sort of...killed one of my friends while I was _under the influence_."

They both laughed at the reference to drugs or alcohol. Possession could do that to you—make you do things you wouldn't while you were in your right mind.

"That would have been bad...You didn't, did you?"

"Almost," Percy repeated. He was grinning a little, like there was a story behind it, and Harry could not help but let the curiosity overwhelm him.

"You say it like you're proud of it," Harry stated, his eyebrows furrowed.

Percy laughed. "It's a long story."

Harry wanted to say, _We have lots of time_, but he didn't. Either way, though, Percy seemed to detect this.

"His name is Jason. I guess you could say that we're both...talented. We're good at what we do. But that makes us competitive, sometimes...well, _most _of the time. So, we were possessed, and then we were forced to fight. And..._he _says differently, but I'm pretty sure I was about to win before his girlfriend, Piper, stopped both of us."

Harry shook his head, laughing. "Do you argue about that a lot?"

"Er, yes," Percy said, like it should have been obvious. "All the time. It's more of a joke, now, and less serious, but still..."

Percy's eyes were distant, as if he was remembering something. Harry studied him...He knew that there was something different about Percy and Nico, but he couldn't figure out what. And whatever it was, he could tell that Neville probably knew something about it, judging by how much time he spent around them.

"Why are you here?" Harry asked.

"To talk to you," Percy answered.

"No, I mean, why are you _here_?...Why were you told everything about Mr. Weasley? You're not close to the Weasleys, as far as I know..."

Percy huffed. "You're the third person to ask me that today."

"Sorry," Harry said.

"No, it's okay." Percy paused for approximately eight seconds, before continuing, "We're here to help. We came to Hogwarts to help. I don't want to lie to you, Harry. I don't like lying to...anyone, really. But I can't tell you anything without Nico, at least, with me. It's really my decision to make. You can trust us."

Harry didn't trust anyone that easily.

"So," Percy said, obviously changing the subject, "let's get down to this possession thing."

Mentally cringing, Harry said slowly, "Alright..."

"Do you remember everything you've done? Everything?"

Harry thought. Did he? He couldn't remember any blank spots...

"Yes," Harry said.

"Well, you aren't being possessed," Percy said. "That's the biggest thing. I can only remember flashes of being possessed...vague, blurry colors in some places...I guess that settles it."

Harry let out a breath and leaned back against the wall at the head of his bed. Percy was approachable enough for him to ask, "Who were _you_ being possessed by?"

"Not who," Percy said. "What. They were creatures..." He seemed to think for a second. "I don't remember their names. It was a pretty creepy experience. It feels like forever ago, but it was just this past summer."

Harry nodded, but his mind was reeling..._What kind of _creature _can possess a human?_

"Well, I think I'll go back down. Dinner will be ready soon. Do you want to sit here and keep brooding, or...?"

Harry scowled. "I was _thinking_. There's a difference."

"Apparently, not with you," Percy quipped. Then he grinned, turned, and walked out the door. Harry followed with barely any hesitation.

0o0o0o0o0

Annabeth and Will had to leave about a day after that. Percy and Annabeth kissed, Will and Nico awkwardly said their goodbyes and hugged a little, and then they took a Portkey back to America. Before then, Harry had had no idea that Portkeys could travel across oceans, but...you learn something new every day.

Hermione had arrived just after that.

"Damn!" Percy cursed. "Hermione and Annabeth would've liked each other. Well, maybe some other time."

And, Harry had to admit, Percy was right. Hermione and Annabeth were _very _alike.

On Christmas day, they returned to St. Mungo's to visit Mr. Weasley for the holiday. The whole place was pleasantly festive—the crystal orbs that illuminated St. Mungo's had been turned to red and gold so that they became gigantic, glowing Christmas baubles; holly hung around every doorway, and shining white Christmas trees covered in magical snow and icicles glittered in every corner, each topped with a gleaming gold star. It was much less crowded than the last time they had been there, although halfway across the room Harry found himself shunted aside by a witch with a walnut jammed up her left nostril.

"Family argument, eh?" smirked the same blonde witch behind the desk. "You're the third I've seen today...Spell Damage, fourth floor..."

All of them—even the two Americans—entered the Dai Llewellyn ward, and found Mr. Weasley propped up in bed with the remains of his turkey dinner on a tray in his lap and a rather sheepish expression on his face.

They all greeted him and handed over their presents.

"I don't believe I've ever met the two of you," Mr. Weasley said, still smiling.

Mrs. Weasley looked puzzled for a second, and then said, "Oh! Arthur, these are the students that are attending Hogwarts for the year." She pointed to Percy and Nico. "Percy Jackson and Nico di Angelo."

"Hey," Percy said, as Nico said, "Hi."

"Everything all right, Arthur?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Fine, fine," said Mr. Weasley, a little too heartily. "You—er—haven't seen Healer Smethwyck, have you?"

"No," Mrs. Weasley said suspiciously, "why?"

"Nothing, nothing," Mr. Weasley evaded, starting to unwrap his pile of gifts. "Well, everyone had a good day? What did you all get for Christmas? Oh, _Harry—_this is absolutely _wonderful—_"

Harry had gotten Mr. Weasley fuse-wire and screwdrivers.

For a little bit after that, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley argued about Mr. Weasley's bandages (which had been changed earlier than scheduled), and then it was discovered that Mr. Weasley had gotten stitches, and then Mrs. Weasley said, "Do you mean to tell me that you have been messing about with Muggle remedies?"

"Not messing about, Molly, dear," Mr. Weasley tried to placate. "It was just—just something Pye and I thought we'd try—only, most unfortunately—well, with these particular kinds of wounds—it doesn't seem to work as well as we'd hoped—"

"_Meaning?"_ Molly urged threateningly.

"Well...well, I don't know whether you know what—what stitches are?"

"It sounds as though you've been trying to sew your skin back together," said Mrs. Weasley, laughing a little as though she thought it absurd, "but even you, Arthur, wouldn't be _that_ stupid—"

"I fancy a cup of tea too," Harry said, as Bill had said the same thing earlier, and Fred and George had followed.

Hermoine, Ron, Ginny, Percy, and Nico all followed him quickly out the door. As it swung shut behind them, they heard Mrs. Weasley shriek, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, THAT'S THE GENERAL IDEA?"

Percy snorted, and Ginny said, "Typical Dad. Stitches...I ask you..."

"Well, you know, they do work well on non-magical wounds," Hermione reasoned. "i suppose something in that snake's venom dissolves them or something...I wonder where the tearoom is?"

Percy's eyebrows were furrowed. "Why do you all like tea so much?"

They all stopped.

Percy looked at them. "I don't mean to sound offensive or anything—"

"And yet it always happens anyway, Kelp Head—"

"Shut it, Death Breath. I was just wondering."

They all started walking again.

Hermione tilted her head. "We'll answer that if you can tell me why Americans like coffee so much."

Percy and Nico both laughed, and Percy said, "Well, that's easy. Caffeine! It keeps us going in the morning after we wake up and we can't seem to keep our eyes open. We run off of caffeine. So...tea?"

Harry had no idea why he hadn't thought of this before. It made so much sense.

Hermione looked like she was thinking along the same lines. "I can't believe I never thought of that. And...I don't really know why we like tea so much. People from this side of the world have been drinking it for so long that it seems to have just...stuck. Tea is an important part of history for us."

"Huh. Us, too," Percy said. "I remember learning about the Boston Tea Party in eighth grade..."

Hermione wrinkled her nose. "That was rude of you."

"Rude of _us_?" Percy repeated incredulously. "You took away our right to...something...and made us drink terrible tea!"

"Great argument, dude," Nico said. "Very eloquent."

"Shut up."

"_You _snuck onto the ships and threw _all _of the tea overboard. What a waste!"

"Nuh-uh," Percy said, shaking his head. He seemed to think for a minute, before blurting, "Taxation without representation!"

Hermoine huffed, and gave a very smart answer. "Whatever."

Harry had no idea what on earth they were talking about, and neither did Ron, or Ginny, or even Nico, it seemed.

"I guess our countries have biased versions of the events that happened between the two of us," Percy said, laughing.

"I guess so."

They were silent for a little bit after, and then they passed a picture of a medieval wizard, who declared, "You, my boy with the red hair, _clearly_ have a bad case of spattergroit!"

Ron looked affronted. "And what's that supposed to be?"

They healer followed them through other portraits as they kept walking toward the tearoom. "'Tis a most grievous affliction of the skin, young master, that will leave you pockmarked and more gruesome even than you are now—"

"Watch who you're calling gruesome!" said Ron, his ears turning red. He was starting to walk faster, but the wizard only followed.

"The only remedy is to take the liver of a toad, bind it tight about your throat, stand naked by the full moon in a barrel of eels' eyes—"

Percy and Harry burst out laughing at this supposed "cure," while Ron said indignantly, "I have not got spattergroit!"

"But the unsightly blemishes upon your visage, young master—"

"They're freckles!" Ron burst furiously. "Now get back in your own picture and leave me alone!"

Then he rounded on the others. "What floor's this?"

"I think it's the fifth," said Hermione.

"Nah," said Harry, recovering from his laughter, though Percy still hadn't, "it's the fourth, one more—"

But as he stepped onto the landing he came to an abrupt halt, staring at the small widow set into the double doors that marked the start of a corridor signposted SPELL DAMAGE. A man was peering out at them with his nose pressed against the glass. He had wavy blond hair, bright blue eyes, and a broad vacant smile that revealed dazzlingly white teeth.

"What is it?" Percy asked, stepping onto the landing.

"Blimey!" said Ron.

"What?" Nico asked.

And then both of the Americans' jaws dropped. _"Lockhart?"_

0o0o0o0o0

**Author's note: **Yes, I changed the method of transportation on purpose. It's not really clear on how they got to the entrance (it mentions a train, in passing..?), so I just changed it. Besides, the Knight Bus is fun!

If you find any mistakes, tell me so that I can fix them. Review, if you would like, and thank you!


	22. Chapter 22

**DISCLAIMER:** Anything you recognize belongs to either Rick Riordan or J. K. Rowling. I own almost nothing, and seek no profit from this story.

I'm not sure why we all feel need to disclaim everything. We're on a website called . The disclaimer is kind of implied.

**Author's note: **Guys, let me tell you something. This story is nowhere near the top of my priority list. I just started up school again, and I've already had a quite a few tests and three projects. And a lot of homework (I just started at a new school). I haven't been able to write since a week after I posted the last chapter, and then yesterday.

What I'm trying to say is, updates will be slow. School is exhausting, and it's awful right now, due to AP classes and the fact that I don't have any friends (which sucks—I'm really not good at socializing).

0o0o0o0o0

^Percy

_Percy, fifteen years old (his fourth day at Goode), was on his way to school—in his school uniform and all—when he came across something a little...odd._

_There was a man, looking somewhere around thirty years old, with wavy blond hair and dazzling teeth sitting in the corner of an alley and writing on...a roll of parchment, using a quill. Who used quills and parchment? Yet, that was hardly the weirdest part. He was twirling a stick in his left and, and he was wearing a dress. Well, it looked like a dress at first glance. When Percy looked closer, he realized that the man was wearing robes. Dark blue robes._

_An eccentric type._

_Deciding _not _to take the chance the had was actually a monster with a bad fashion sense, he stepped into the alley to greet the man._

_The man, seeming intent on his writing, didn't notice Percy._

"_Uh, hello," Percy greeted, and the blond jumped violently and blotted the ink on his parchment. "Um, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. What...are you doing?"_

_Somehow, this man seemed a little too dignified to be sitting in an alley of New York and scribbling with a quill on parchment. Percy stepped closer and peered at the top of the paper—in an unnaturally neat handwriting said the words, bigger than the rest, "Break with a Banshee."_

_Wasn't a Banshee some sort of screaming...something?_

"_Um, hello?" Percy repeated. The stranger had merely looked back down at his paper in order to keep writing. Something was weird about this guy, and he could feel it. He looked fancy, if not completely crazy, and he didn't belong in a place like this. "Dude!"_

_The blond man jumped again. Finally, he sighed and set down his...quill. "Yes?"_

_There was an odd lilt to his voice that Percy couldn't place with merely one word. Either way, Percy asked, "Is there a reason you're sitting in an alley, or are you lost?"_

_The stranger huffed, looking scandalized. "Lost?"_

English, _Percy thought to himself. _He has an English accent.

"_I do not get lost." Then he seemed to really look at Percy. He stood up, rolled his parchment, and placed it in his pocket, along with his quill. "Why hello, young man!" he said jubilantly, his demeanor completely changing. "The question is, what are _you _doing in an alley?"_

"_Asking you why _you're _in an alley. I was on my way to school," Percy said, giving the man a weird look. That was an avoidance tactic—Percy knew that for sure._

_The stranger took a second to rearrange his weirdly perfect, wavy blond hair before saying, "School? And what school might you go to?"_

_Percy could tell that the man didn't really care. He was avoiding Percy's question._

"_What's your name?" Percy asked, deciding not to tell the man what school he went to; though he severely doubted it, the man could be some sort of creep._

"_Gilderoy," he answered. "Gilderoy Lockhart."_

"_Well, Mr. Lockhart, this part of New York is a shady place, so—"_

"_I can take care of myself, young man! Although, it was quite nice of you to give me a warning..." Lockhart donned a thoughtful looked, which Percy thought might've been rare. "You are so...how old are you? Young? Sixteen?"_

"_Fifteen," Percy corrected, and then he regretted it—Gilderoy Lockhart was a stranger!_

"_Would you mind if I—"_

_Right then, Percy felt something land right on top of him—something moderately heavy. And it hurt. Quite a bit. Due to the fact that he'd landed face down on the ground with the unknown object on top of him, though, he couldn't see anything but the gravel pressing into his face._

_He groaned._

"_Sorry!" the voice of Nico di Angelo said quickly. "The only thing I thought was 'Percy' and I guess...it worked."_

"_You think?" Percy asked. "You're talking and not moving."_

"_Sorry!" Nico said again. He moved off of Percy and offered his hand. Percy took it, and Nico was about to continue, but he saw Lockhart standing there and closed his mouth. After studying Lockhart, Nico turned back to Percy and said, "I was going to do a little more convincing before you started school, but I see you made a new...friend." Nico was eyeing Lockhart oddly._

"_Sure," Percy said. "A friend."_

_Lockhart turned his eyes to Nico. "Where did you just come from?"_

"_Oh, um..." Nico cast around for an excuse. "The top of that building." He pointed upward._

_They all looked up at the extremely tall building that was towering above them. Nico wrinkled his nose as his excuse was basically shattered._

"_Any why," Lockhart said, "would you feel the need to jump from such a height?"_

"_I didn't jump," Nico invented. "I fell. But luckily, Percy was here to break my fall."_

There's no way he's going to fall for that, _Percy thought. But his thoughts were proved wrong when Lockhart said, "Well, alright."_

_Nico and Percy looked at each other, and shrugged. Hey, if Lockhart was going to be dull enough to buy it, they would accept the excuse without complaint._

"_You're not from around here," Nico said, eyeing Lockart's robes._

"_Evidently not," Lockhart said. "_Nobody _around here knows me!"_

"_It take it you're well known, wherever you're from?"_

"_Quite," Lockhart conceded, looking smug. "I've written several best-selling books, and I was in the middle of writing one just now when young Percy here interrupted me."_

"_What's it called?" Percy asked, trying to be polite, although he really just wanted to get to school and leave him to keep writing._

"_Break with a Banshee," Lockhart asnwered. "It's a true story. I banished a Banshee last night that was lurking in the lobby of the Vampire Estate Building, or whatever it's called."_

"_Um, it's the Empire State Building," Percy corrected. "You...banished a Banshee?"_

"_Mhm," Lockhart said. "Quite a feat, really. Banshees are bothersome creatures. They scare the wits out of people when, most of the time, there's nothing to fear."_

_Percy was beginning to think that Gilderoy Lockhart could be certifiably crazy. Banshees didn't exist...did they?_

"_Banshees are warnings," Nico said. "Wouldn't they be helpful?"_

_Percy knew what a Banshee was. When they wailed, they warned of an impending death in their occupied place of residence. Something unnerved him about the idea...Olympus was at the top of the Empire State Building. Was that supposed to mean something?_

"_I should be going," Lockhart said suddenly. "I will see the two of you around."_

_Percy furrowed his brow as Lockhart walked past him and out of the alley. Percy hesitated for a second, and then turned around and called, "Wait!" He ran out of the alley, but Lockhart was nowhere to be seen._

0o0o0o0o0

Percy had, after this strange encounter, always wondered if it was supposed to be some sort of message. Was it some Greek trick, and something was trying to warn them about something bad happening on Olympus soon?

He had convinced himself that he was over thinking it, and that Lockhart was just insane, and that it didn't mean anything.

Maybe there really _had _been a Banshee in the Empire State Building. Luke had died above it only a little under a year later.

"_Lockhart?"_

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all turned to them.

They stared at each other for a minute, before Ron said incredulously, "_You _know Lockhart?"

Percy shifted, glancing back at Lockhart's face still pressed against the glass of the window. "Um, yeah. We've met. Once. He said something about a Banshee. Not much happened."

"A Banshee?" Hermione asked. "As in, _Break with a Banshee_? That happened in...New York?"

Nico nodded. "He said he defeated a Banshee that was lurking in the Empire State Building."

"Vampire Estate Building," Percy corrected.

They laughed a little, before Harry said, "He didn't defeat a Banshee."

Percy wrinkled his brow. It had made sense to him, what with Luke...but he obviously knew a lot less about Lockhart than they did.

"Are you sure?" Percy asked slowly. "Because it makes sense..."

Hermione shook her head, cutting Percy off. "No, no. A Banshee probably _was_ banished. Lockhart just didn't do it. We found out, in our second year, that Lockhart is a fraud. He takes credit for what other wizards or witches did and Obliviates them so that they can't remember and call him out on it when he publishes his books."

The demigods stared for a second.

"Um, wow."

"What he said."

Hermione sighed. "I still wish I can figure out who _actually _did all of those things, so they can get credit for them, but almost everyone still believes that Lockhart did them. There's not much I—or we—can do."

Percy pressed his lips together. "His book—_Break with a Banshee—_you recognized it. So, it was published?"

"It was released just before our second year," Hermione said.

"Banshees are creatures or spirits or something that are a forewarning of a death in their place of residence?" Percy asked aloud. "Is there any way to know _who _the death they were warning about was?"

Hermione thought for a moment, before saying, "No, I don't think so. Why?"

Percy just realized that he had probably revealed a little too much. He cleared his throat and said, "Nothing. I heard that someone—a Muggle—died there a little less than a year later. I was wondering if that might have been the person."

Hermione shrugged. "Maybe. Nothing ever said that the Banshee's warnings were for deaths that were coming soon."

Nico was about to say something, when they were interrupted by a Lockhart's voice saying, "Well, hello there! I expect you'd like my autograph, would you?"

"He hasn't changed much, has he?" Percy heard Harry mutter to Ginny.

"Er—how are you, Professor?" Ron asked him. Percy thought he sounded kind of weird—he'd ask about it later.

"I'm very well indeed, thank you!" Lockhart exclaimed, pulling a peacock-feather quill out of his pocket. "Now, how many autographs would you like? I can do joined-up writing now, you know!"

"Well, that's great, because I can't hardly do that," Percy muttered.

Ron's ears were rather red. "Er—we don't want any autographs at the moment, thanks."

"Professor, should you be wandering around the corridors? Shouldn't you be in a ward?" Harry didn't seem to mean it in a rude way. It sounded like he knew why Lockhart was in St. Mungo's in the first place, and was slightly concerned.

At the question, Lockhart's wide smile faded. "Haven't we met?" he asked after a few seconds of staring at Harry.

"Er...yeah, we have," said Harry. "You used to teach us at Hogwarts, remember?"

Lockhart seemed to chocke a little. "Teach? Me? Did I?" And then, abruptly, his smile returned, and he continued cockily, "Taught you everything you know, I expect, did I? Well, how about those autographs, then? Shall we say a round dozen, you can give them to all your little friends then and nobody will be left out!"

He seemed a little too excited, and Percy wasn't liking him much more than he had on his fourth day at Goode. Just when he was about to say something along those lines under his breath to Nico, a head poked out of the far end of the corridor and it said, "Gilderoy, you naughty boy, where have you wandered off to?"

Percy assumed she was a Healer, judging by her robes and her motherly expression. She was also wearing a tinsel wreath in her hair, which shimmered under the light. "Oh Gilderoy, you've got visitors! How _lovely_, and on Christmas Day too! Do you know, he _never _gets visitorys, poor lamb, and I can't think why, he's such a sweetie, aren't you?"

…_sweetie?_

"We're doing autographs!" Lockhart told the Healer with another glittering smile. "They want loads of them, won't take no for an answer! I just hope we've got enough photographs!"

_Yeah, definitely a "sweetie."_

"Listen to him," the Healer said, beaming fondly at Lockhart. "He was rather well known a few years ago; we very much hope that this liking for giving autographs is a sign that his memory might be coming back a little bit..."

Percy zoned out of the rest of her monologue while staring at the tinsel in her hair. It looked eerily like dewy spider-webs, and he wondered if Annabeth would've thought the same thing if she'd still been there.

Just when he thought the whole thing was over, all of them moved to start following the Healer to one of the wards. Percy raised an eyebrow, but followed suit either way. After the Healer unlocked the door to the ward, they all walked into the elaborately festive hall.

The Healer rambled on about how it was the long-term resident ward, but Percy didn't exactly care. He was too transfixed on the—what seemed like—thousands of pictures in Lockhart's room on the ward. They were all of Lockhart himself. Percy had gotten the impression of _conceited_ in the alley back home, but he hadn't suspected anything like _this_.

Percy grimaced and pulled his gaze away from the too-white teeth of Lockhart's pictures when he heard the name _Longbottom_.

Everyone else had whirled around, too. At the end of the ward, two visitors were walking back down the aisle between the beds. One of them was—from Neville's description—Neville's grandmother. And the other was Neville himself. They were both looking quite depressed.

He saw Harry cringe as Ron exclaimed, _"Neville!"_

Neville did a mixture of a jump and a cringe.

"It's us, Neville!" Ron continued, and Percy made a face. "Have you seen? Lockhart's here! Who've you been visiting?"

"Friends of yours, Neville, dear?" Augusta Longbottom asked.

Neville's hands were twitching nervously, and he looked like he'd rather be jumping into an active volcano than standing there. Meanwhile, his grandmother's eyes roamed over the group standing outside of Lockhart's ward.

"Ah, yes," she said suddenly, looking closely at Harry. "Yes, yes, I know who you are, of course. Neville speaks most highly of you."

Harry looked extremely awkward as she shook Mrs. Longbottom's hand. "Er—thanks."

"And you two are clearly Weasleys. Yes, I know your parents—not well, of course—but fine people, fine people...and you must be Hermione Granger?"

Hermione started, but she shook hands with the woman anyway.

Then Mrs. Longbottom turned to Percy and Nico. "Percy Jackson and Nico di Angelo?" she guessed.

Percy grinned, and Nico said, "Yes..."

"Yes, Neville's told me all about you. Good friends, I've gathered. He's a good boy...but he hasn't got his father's talent, I'm afraid to say..." And she jerked her head in the direction of the two beds at the end of the ward, so that the stuffed vulture on her hat swayed alarmingly.

Percy felt a stab of irritation at her words, but Ron said, "What?" in an amazed voice before he could impulsively say anything to contradict her. Ron continued, "Is that your _dad_ down the end, Neville?"

Percy flinched. He knew something was going on here, but he wasn't sure he wanted to know whatever it was.

"What's this?" Augusta asked sharply. "Haven't you told your friends about your parents, Neville?"

Neville took a deep breath, looked up at the ceiling, and shook his head. He looked close to tears, and Percy felt a strong need to change the subject.

"Well, it's nothing to be ashamed of!" Mrs. Longbottom said fiercely. "You should be _proud_, Neville, _proud_! They didn't give their health and their sanity so their only son would be ashamed of them, you know!"

"I'm not ashamed." It was faint, but it was determinedly strong.

"Well, you've got a funny way of showing it!" said Mrs. Longbottom. "My son and his wife were tortured into insanity by You-Know-Who's followers."

Percy, honestly, was horrified by the revelation, but he knew better than to show it. The others, though—Hermione, Ginny, and Ron, specifically—didn't bother to hide their shock and mortification. Percy didn't really want to hear any of it—he'd experienced enough hurt, his friends had experienced enough hurt already.

"They were Aurors, you know, and very well respected within the Wizarding community. Highly gifted, the pair of them. I—yes, Alice dear, what is it?"

Neville's mother, who looked so much like Neville himself, had approached Neville, holding something in her outstretched hand.

"Again?" said Mrs. Longbottom, sounding slightly weary. "Very well, Alice dear, very well—Neville, take it, whatever it is..."

Percy was liking Neville's grandmother less and less the more they talked to each other. He watched as Neville stretched out his hand and accepted the empty gum wrapper that was dropped in his palm. He thanked her and quietly slipped the wrapper in his pocket as Mrs. Longbottom said, "Well, we'd better get back. Very nice to have met you all. Neville, put that wrapper in the bin, she must have given you enough of them to paper your bedroom by now..."

Percy tuned out of it when the others discussed whether they'd known about it or not. He stepped aside and gestured for Nico to follow.

"That was..." Nico started, trailing off.

Pressing his lips together, Percy said awkwardly, "Yeah, it was. Do you feel that?"

"Feel...oh. _Oh_." Nico's eyes widened as he finally tuned into his surroundings. "I'm not sure how I didn't feel that before."

"It's here," Percy said. "It's right outside of the hospital. I can tell."

Nico nodded. "That is...bad. Should we go without them...?"

Percy didn't like it, but he said, "Yes."

"Lockhart will distract them." Nico gestured over to where Lockhart had started slowly signing his own name over photos of himself and handing them to the group. "Now?"

After looking around, Percy said, "Let's go."

They both raced down the stairs outside the ward and burst out of the hospital.

**Author's note: **There's _action _in the next chapter!

Yes, it's kind of shorter than normal, but it's better than nothing.

I didn't want to make the "how they knew Lockhart" anything dramatic, so it has a reason to not be mentioned in the real books. I made up the fact that "Break with a Banshee" was published and released right before the trio's second year—which would be when Percy was fifteen and starting at Goode. I hope it's consistent.

ALSOOOOO, if you find any mistakes, leave a review or PM me.


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